Purebloods to Pistols
by rdheyes
Summary: Falling victim to circumstance, Sirius Black and Eva Miller form a relationship that blossoms from a mutual hate. But soon they find themselves in over their heads.  You only realise when it's already too late and you can't come back.
1. Chapter 1: Purebloods

Disclaimer: I own nothing

**Chapter 1: Home for the Holidays**

* * *

Sirius Black was always the outcast of his family. He had a controlling and vindictive mother, a malicious and violent father, and an adored and overindulged brother. He hated his family and all their pureblood mania.

Everyone in his family that had passed through Hogwarts had been a Slytherin; Sirius was a Gryffindor.

His friends consisted of other pureblood Gryffindors, werewolves, and muggleborns and consequently labeled him a 'bloodtraitor'.

Sirius lay on his bed that had always been too big for him, and stared up at the high ceiling.

Sighing, he rolled off and his feet hit the floor. He pulled himself up and dragged his body in front of his bathroom mirror.

Looking back at him, he saw a sixteen year-old boy with piercing grey eyes and black hair, just like the rest of his family. He saw the scars of his childhood that had always been punishment for acting the way he believed to be right. He saw the broad shoulders and thin waist that accompanied all the men in his family.

On the surface, he saw a Black and any onlooker would have seen exactly the same thing.

But as Sirius continued to stare, he began to see more of what he really was.

He saw his strong arms and muscular torso that came from years of Quiddich training and hard work. The level of labor and commitment he put into maintaining a healthy body was enough to turn up any Black's nose. He saw the muggle tattoo stained onto his left shoulder; 'The Marauders: tied together with sacred bonds' it read. He saw someone that was loyal and true to his friends as well as himself. He saw an authentic Gryffindor.

But standing in front of the mirror, he found it a lot harder to concentrate on the good that he saw. Most of his attention was focused on the darkness that seemed to engulf him.

He ran his left hand over his bare chest, over the long, white scar that lay almost six inches in length. Such wounds from his childhood ran a lot deeper than the surface. They had entwined themselves in his very being, defining him as the person that he was.

Sirius got changed out of the tracksuit pants he had slept in and into a pair of fitted, black jeans and a white t-shirt.

Deciding that eight O'clock in the morning was far too early to face his family, he resolved to get started on some of his holiday homework. He pulled his Potions book out of his bookshelf and grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill, ready to get started on his essay regarding the uses and effects of Asphodel in the Draught of Living Death.

But before his quill had even touched the paper, a light tapping at his window caught his attention. Pushing back his chair, Sirius got up and moved to the window to let his owl inside. It was completely black in color, and he had named it Godric Gryffindor more in spite of his parents than anything else.  
Godric dropped a letter onto Sirius' bed and flew back out the window. Sitting on his bed, he opened the note and read it.

It was from his best friend, James Potter. The letter had been sent in the attempt to bring comfort and enjoyment, but instead served as a reminder that there was still a whole month left of the summer holidays before he would be able to return to Hogwarts, his _real _home.

Sirius sighed and put the letter on his bedside table; he would reply later. Not really in the mood for doing any homework, he lay down on his bed once again and went back to staring at the ceiling, deep in thought.

He remained like that until well into the afternoon when he was ushered downstairs and urged to get ready for the dinner his parents were throwing that night for their pureblood friends.

Sirius Black was not like his family in anyway but one. They were tied together by a single likeliness; deep down inside the vaults of their hearts, they were not happy.

* * *

Peridatrumeva Miller, known to her family as Peri but to everyone else as Eva, hated most aspects of her life. She hated her name, she hated her family, and she hated the society in which she lived.

Eva hated her name because it was long, horrible and sounded positively evil.

Eva hated her family because they were all diehard purebloods.

Eva hated the society that she lived in because it promoted such pureblood obsession and discriminated of all sorts.

It was only a month into summer holidays and she had already had enough. She was dying for term to start so she could finally go to Hogwarts. She had wanted to go to there in the first place, but her mother had insisted she attend a posh finishing school in Switzerland. She hadn't been happy about going there, and finally at the end of her fifth year she was expelled and forced to move to another school. The Hogwarts headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, much to her delight and her parents' displeasure, was the only person willing to accept such a 'troublesome student'.

She rolled over in her bed and looked at the clock on her bedside table. It was almost noon.

Begrudgingly, Eva rolled out of her snuggly warm bed and went to the bathroom to shower and freshen up. With a groan she remembered that tonight she was expected to dress up and be present at another pureblood dinner. That meant only two things: dressing up and acting disgustingly fake. These were two things that Eva despised.

After rinsing toothpaste out of her mouth, she looked in her bathroom mirror.

Her soft, brown hair curled lightly and was cut to just bellow shoulder length. It fell elegantly on the sides, framing her face. She had big, blue eyes accompanied with long, black eyelashes. Her bright porcelain skin was spotted with freckles and contrasted heavily with her full, red lips.

She smiled at her reflection, revealing a mouth of dazzling white teeth.

She went back into her bedroom to get dressed. Opening up her wardrobe she picked out a pair of tight, blue jeans and loose, pale green t-shirt. She draped a long necklace of large, red beads around her neck and combed her hair.

Getting expelled from a school certainly had its benefits: she had no holiday homework.

Thinking she could get away with avoiding her family for at least another three hours, Eva started to busy herself by cleaning her bedroom but unfortunately this took barely fifteen minutes considering her room was quite tidy to begin with.

She went over to her desk and picked up the two letters that were sitting on it. One was from Professor Dumbledore, the other a pureblood 'friend' from her old school.

A surprisingly large clang emitted from her metal wastebasket as the letter made contact with it. She carried the other letter to her bed and sat down to read it for the umpteenth time.

Just reading the headmaster's words made her excited. Hogwarts was a school known for its diverse range of pupils. She would no longer be stuck with a heap of purebloods where she stood out like a sore thumb. Eva smiled at the mere prospect of actually gaining some friends that liked her for who she was, and not who her family was.

As she lay on her bed, daydreaming, all thoughts of the upcoming dinner were pushed to the back of her mind, and Hogwarts was all that filled her thoughts.

For once in her long and miserable life, Eva Miller wasn't unhappy. Her life was soon about to take a change for the better.

**A/N: Please read and review guys! I would really appreciate some feedback. Be as harsh as you like.**


	2. Chapter 2: Dinner With The Blacks

**Chapter 2: Dinner with the Blacks**

****

Sirius turned the tap off and got out of the shower. He wrapped a big, blue towel around his waste and started to dry his hair.

Once clean and shaved, he gathered his dress robes. He pulled on a pair of expensive black pants and buttoned up his white shirt, tucking it into his trousers. Quickly and with mastered skill, he tied his black tie into a full Windsor knot. He grabbed the elegant dress cloak off his bed and draped it around his shoulders. It was also black, but was embroidered with gold and green and the Black family emblem.

Once he was sure his family would approve of his appearance, he headed downstairs.

He entered the kitchen and found his younger brother, Regulus, sitting at the counter in his dark grey dress robes.

Sirius and Regulus were almost identical in looks, except the latter was a few inches shorter and had cold blue eyes that were, more often than not, devoid of all emotion.

Sirius didn't mind his brother quite as much as the rest of his family. He was a Slytherin and followed in both his parents' footsteps in most aspects, but Sirius couldn't help feel that there was more to Regulus than met the eye.

The ancient clock that hung above the sink read six thirty. The dinner guests would be arriving in half an hour.

* * *

Eva did up all the ties and zips of her blood red dress. It was a beautiful dress and she looked absolutely stunning in it. However, she did not like it. This was for the simple reason that it was a family heirloom. It had been her great, great grandmother's, and had been passed down through the women in her family to her.

She put on her make up in front of her bathroom mirror and pulled her hair into a loose bun. She grabbed her black dress cloak off its hanger and pulled it over her shoulders.

She checked her watch. It read 6.50pm. Her family was going to Floo to the dinner at exactly seven. She made her way halfheartedly downstairs to meet them in the living room.

Her mother and father were both sitting on the couch and she chose to ignore them. Her older brother, Kroy, was sitting opposite them looking very handsome in his dress robes.

Out of her whole family, her brother was the only person she had ever gotten along with. He was three years her senior and they couldn't have looked any less alike. Anyone who heard they were related was always surprised as neither bore any resemblance to the other.

Sitting down next to her brother, Eva passed the time for the next ten minutes by thinking more about Hogwarts.

* * *

"Regulus! Bring your brother and come and meet our guests!" Walburga's voice called through the still and quiet house.

Sirius and Regulus left the kitchen in silence and followed the sound of their mother's voice to the large dining room.

Standing in front of the fireplace was a family that Sirius recognised but didn't know the name of. He greeted them politely, shaking their hands.

The flames in the fireplace suddenly turned bright green and one after another, four people fell out of it. They stood up and brushed themselves off.

"Ah, Arcturus and Irma. Lovely to see you," said Orion Black, as he walked into the dining room to greet his guests.

"The pleasure is all mine," said the woman, presumably Irma. "Now I know you have met Kroy on many occasions, but I don't believe you have met my daughter. This is Peri."

"Hello, Kroy, how do you do? It's a pleasure meeting you, Peri," Orion said.

"Sirius!" his mother barked, "Come over here and meet your guests. These are the Millers. This is their daughter, Peri. Why don't you go and show her around the house and grounds? I need to discuss something with the adults."

"Oh, Regulus is an adult now?" Sirius inquired innocently.

His mother pulled him aside and whispered harshly in his ear, "Don't you give me any cheek tonight. I've had it with you! You know perfectly well why Regulus can be involved in such matters and you cannot."

Sirius scoffed, "Whatever makes you happy. Right, you, follow me," he said, indicating the girl. She obeyed and followed him out of the dining room.

They walked in silence out into the large backyard. The fountain was bubbling joyously and two owls sat perched in a nearby tree, their big, round eyes watching them.

"My parents call me Peri, but I'd prefer it if you just called me Eva," she said into the silence, "You're Sirius?"

He grunted, annoyed that she had punctured the quietness.

"You don't talk very much," Eva observed.

He stopped walking and spun around to face her. "Well pardon me for not being overly thrilled at the prospect of having my house full of iniquitous, sanctimonious, sordid purebloods," Sirius growled softly through gritted teeth.

Eva stopped walking and looked up at him in the dimming light. She noticed his heavy breathing and they way his eyebrows were knitted together in a tight frown. His eyes flashed angrily at her.

"You know, I don't like them, either," she finally said.

After a minute, they both simultaneously decided to keep walking.

Starting to loosen up, this time it was Sirius who spoke first. "So what school do you go to?"

"I'm about to start at Hogwarts," Eva replied.

"Start? People start when they are eleven. You look older than that. You've got to be at least fifteen or sixteen."

"Sixteen. I got expelled from my old school," she said, blushing ever so slightly. "Hogwarts was the only school willing to take me."

"It's a great school, that's for sure," Sirius said with a fond smile.

"Oh, do you know it?" Eva asked.

"Know it?" Sirius chuckled quietly, "It's been my real home for many years."

"Oh."

They sat silently for about ten minutes, basking in the serenity of the outdoors, until the tranquillity was broken by Walburga's screeching.

"I guess that means dinner's ready," Sirius said, flashing a mischievous grin at the girl next to him. "That woman is going senile. I don't know how much more I can take before she drives me out of here!"

He extended his hand and pulled Eva up into a standing position. Somehow she couldn't help noticing that the smile didn't really reach his eyes and she wondered just how serious he was about being driven out.

* * *

During dinner, Sirius and Eva didn't talk to one another. Eva was seated next to Regulus at the long table, while Sirius was positioned opposite Kroy.

"So you're coming to Hogwarts?" asked Regulus, between mouthfuls of mashed potato, "I wonder whether they will sort you with the first years or whether they will just put you in a house."

"Well it doesn't matter, does it? Either way she will be in Slytherin where all decent wizards and witches go," Walburga said, shooting a glare down the table at her older son.

Sirius didn't miss a beat. "Well I guess that all depends on what you would call a _decent_ wizard," he said innocently, biting down into a chunk of duck.

"Don't you give your mother any lip, Sirius," Orion put in, joining the conversation.

"Well, I was merely saying that many people consider Gryffindor to be the house for _decent _wizards," he said, before adding in an afterthought, "Or Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. Actually, I guess any house other than Slytherin, really," he said in mock thoughtfulness.

"Sirius, go to your room. I do not want you putting any more rubbish into Miss Miller's head about her new school. NOW!" she barked as Sirius carefully began to help himself to another plate full of duck, his eyes never leaving his mother's as he did so.

With purposeful force, he threw his fork down onto the table and made for the door, plate in hand. When he reached the threshold, he turned back and said to Eva, "I'll see you at Hogwarts, my dear, and I promise I'll introduce you to some…" he glanced momentarily at his mother, "_decent_ witches and wizards."

"_Silencio_!" Walburga yelled, jumping to her feet and pointing in the direction of the kitchen.

Sirius walked the way she pointed and perched himself on the kitchen bench, waiting for his mother. It took only seconds before she was at the door, shaking with rage.

He braced himself and waited for the bombshell to hit. But it never came. Instead, what did come was so soft it was almost inaudible.

"Never in my entire life have I been so humiliated. You are a disgrace to the name of Black. You are a blood traitor and I no longer want you in my house. Pack your things and get out. I don't care where you go. I don't ever want to see you again; you are no son of mine. I hereby disown you from the family of Black."

And in that single moment, all the hate bottled up inside Sirius towards his family was abolished. For that single moment it was replaced by a much more raw and powerful emotion: hope.

After all these long years, Sirius was finally able to leave behind the family that he had grown to hate and sever all the ties of their relationship.

Sirius Black was free at last.

**A/N: please review!**


	3. Chapter 3: Departing Platform 9¾

**Chapter 3: Departing Platform 9¾ **

Sirius casually strolled through the barrier that separated platforms nine and ten and saw, once again, a very familiar and comforting site. His best friend, James Potter, joined him soon after.

"Second last time, Padfoot," James said, clapping him on the back. "I'm going to miss this train. It's been good to us over the years."

Sirius laughed, "Prongs, you sound like you're leaving the place. It's only sixth year. There are still two more to come!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Come on, let's go find a compartment before all the good ones get taken."

The two boys headed over to the scarlet steam engine, trunks and owls in tow. They walked along the train looking for an empty compartment. There was only one left, which was two from the back. Deciding it was the best they would get, they put their things inside and went back onto the platform.

"James! Sirius!" Called a well-known voice. Turning around, the two boys found their friend, and fellow Marauder, Remus Lupin standing in front of them, a massive grin plastered to his face.

"Moony! Long time, no see," said James, clapping his friend on the back.

"Already read this years new textbooks?" Inquired Sirius with a grin.

"As a matter of fact, I have read a couple," Remus grinned back, "So where's our compartment?"

"Two from the back," Sirius said, vaguely indicating the train.

Remus left the other two boys and climbed onto the train.

"I know the drill," said James as his parents approached him, "Maintain good grades, stay out of trouble and write at least once a week."

"And you make sure you do!" Said Mrs. Potter in a mock stern voice, but a smile getting the better of her. She pulled James into a bone-crushing hug and kissed him on the cheek. Mr. Potter then pulled his son into a one armed hug and ruffled his hair.

The Potters then turned their attention to Sirius.

"You know you are always welcome at our house, Sirius dear," Mrs. Potter said before hugging and kissing him goodbye.

"You're a good man, Sirius, and don't forget it," said Mr. Potter and shook his hand.

"We'd better be off. Bye mum, bye dad!" Yelled James and rushed onto the train.

"Bye Mr. Potter, Mrs. Potter," said Sirius and followed his best friend's lead.

As they boarded the train, they could hear James' mother yelling for them to try and stay out of trouble. The two boys looked at each other momentarily before bursting out laughing.

They got to the compartment second from the back and joined Remus. The final member to make up the Marauders, Peter Pettigrew, was also in the there.

"Wormtail! Where have you been all summer?" Asked Sirius, greeting his friend. James followed suit.

The deafening blow of a whistle signifying the train's departure blocked out Peter's answer.

The four boys took their seats in the compartment and had just gotten comfortable when the door was suddenly thrust open.

* * *

Eva was nervous. Her parents hadn't wanted to take her to the station and Kroy was too busy so she had to make her own way there. Her letter from Professor Dumbledore clearly stated that she was to run at the barrier connecting platform nine and platform ten. It had seemed easy enough, but as she stood in front of it, Eva started to feel a bit scared.

She looked at her watch. It was five to eleven; she had been standing there for fifteen minutes. She knew that if she didn't make a move soon, she would miss the train. Taking a deep breath, Eva ran at the barrier. She closed her eyes just as she was a few metres away and waited for the blow to come. But it didn't. She opened her eyes just in time to swerve her trolley away from an elderly couple standing in front of her. She had made it onto platform 9¾.

She grabbed her trunk and her owl and ran onto the train feeling very relieved.

As she passed the various compartments, she looked for an empty one to sit in. But they were all full. She neared the end of the train and realised that she would have to choose one sooner or later. There were only two doors left and Eva pulled open the closest.

* * *

Eva Miller stood in the doorway, clearly a bit flustered. She took one look at the compartment full of boys and muttered a soft apology before backing out again.

"One sec," Sirius said to his friends and bounded over to the door. He pulled it open and walked into the corridor, looking left and right for Eva.

"Eva!" he yelled and she turned around, already a fair few compartments away from him.

"Oh, Sirius. Hi," she said, blushing a bit.

He quickly walked over to her, filling the space between them. "How were the rest of your holidays?"

"Oh, not too bad I guess," she said cautiously, "My parents warned me about you. They told me what happened. Where did you go?"

"But you wouldn't listen to their warnings, anyway, would you?" he said with a grin, "I stayed at James Potter's house. He's my best friend and his parents consider me their second son."

"Oh," she said barely audibly, her mouth forming a small circle.

Sirius caught a glimpse of himself in the window of a compartment. His dark hair fell elegantly across his eyes and his white t-shirt hugged his torso nicely, exposing all the muscles in his arms. He pulled his eyes away from his reflection and they moved down his body over his fitted black jeans and dirty runners.

His eyes flicked back up and met Eva's for a brief moment before she looked away. He then noticed that she still had her trunk and owl behind her.

"Have anywhere to sit?" he asked, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said.

"Damn straight you're fine," he said, chuckling at his own innuendo.

A slight smirk played across his face as he watched her, knowing she was embarrassed but not knowing why exactly that was. The whole situation amused him.

"Well I guess I'd better be going," she said.

"I know you don't have anywhere to go. You're coming with me," he said, walking past her and grabbing her trunk. He pulled it to the door of his compartment and disappeared inside.

A few seconds later he stuck his head back out again.

"Are you coming or will I have to carry you in here too?" he said with a grin.

Eva smiled to herself and picked up her owl and went to join the boys.

Sirius introduced her to James, Remus and Peter and explained that they were called themselves 'The Marauders'. He explained James' obsession with a girl named Lily Evans, Remus' habit of studying whenever he could, and Peter's inability to get a girlfriend. In turn, the three boys explained about Sirius' reputation amongst the female population of the school.

As they got even closer to Hogwarts, Sirius began to feel a pulling at his heart. He was going back to his _real_ home for another year. Another year of hooking up with random girls, drowning his sorrows with a bottle of Firewhiskey, and lazing around with his best friends.

Another year of sex, drugs, rock n' roll.


	4. Chapter 4: Sorting Things Out

**Chapter 4: Sorting Things Out**

It was getting dark outside and Eva began to feel fatigue washing over her. She put her hand over her mouth in attempt to stifle a yawn.

"So what house are you guys in?" she asked the group at large.

James looked shocked. "Gryffindor of course! Where else would people such as ourselves be?"

"Is there anyone that's not in Gryffindor? Oh, I hope I'm not in Slytherin!"

"Don't worry," said Sirius with a comforting smile, "You wont be. Just focus on what you want and you'll get it."

The compartment was silent for a few minutes until Remus got up.

"I'm going to go and find Rachel," he said as he went to leave.

"Rachel? Who's that?" asked Eva, slightly confused.

"His girlfriend," said Sirius, matter of factly.

Remus chuckled, "No, she's not. She's my best friend. Other than these three, of course." He disappeared through the door and closed it behind him.

"He wants her, you know?" said Sirius with a sidelong wink at Eva. She laughed softly and James smiled broadly.

"Well I hope he brings her back here with him. She's Evans' best friend and they go absolutely everywhere together," he added for Eva's benefit.

A few minutes later, Remus returned followed by an attractive blonde girl and a rather reluctant looking red head. Eva drew the conclusion that they were Rachel and Lily respectively.

"This is Eva Miller," said Remus, "Eva, this is Rachel Corrie and this is Lily Evans."

After they all greeted each other, Rachel and Remus took the seats next to Sirius and Eva. Lily's eyes moved to the only available spot left in the compartment which was conveniently situated next to James. He indicated the seat with a smile. "Care for a seat, Evans?"

She frowned and begrudgingly accepted the offer and moved to sit herself next to him.

"So how were your holidays?" James asked and raised his arm to put it around her shoulders.

"Don't you dare," she said through gritted teeth, her emerald green eyes flashing dangerously.

He put his hands back in his lap looking disheartened. Lily continued to glare at him with contempt.

"Well," said Sirius in attempt to cut the tension that was hanging thick in the air. A couple of people mumbled, but most remained quiet. Due to the fact that there were so many people seated on their side of the compartment, he found his body was pushed up against Eva's. He could smell the lavender shampoo that she had used that morning, and the intoxicating scent of her perfume. Together, the two made him feel a bit weak and dizzy.

Eva tried to concentrate on what was going on around her; counting the number of sequins on Lily's jeans, the number of cows the train passed, the number of times that James ruffled his hair. Once again, however, she felt drowsiness start to engulf her and she tried to fight off the urge to drift into slumber. But her fight was fought in vain and before long, she was swallowed in sleep.

* * *

The train screeched to a halt and students started to pour out onto the station. Night had fallen and it was dark outside. Eva lay asleep, her head rested on Sirius' shoulder.

"You'd better wake her up, Padfoot," said James. "We need to get going."

Sirius smiled and looked down at the sleeping form. "But she looks so peaceful. Hey, Eva," he said softly, shaking her a bit. She stirred slowly and blinked a few times, rubbing her eyes with her fists.

The others had already left the compartment and headed onto the platform.

"Oh, I'm sorry Sirius. I didn't mean to fall asleep on you like that," she said, a touch of pink rising in her cheeks. He chuckled and leaned in close to her, whispering in her ear.

"Don't worry about it, love. You're cute when you're sleeping."

She flushed an even deeper shade of pink.

"Come on," he said and placed his hand on the small of her back and steered her out of the compartment, "We have to find the others."

She let herself be led; leaving her luggage on the train, and out on the station they found the others.

Having just woken up, Eva found that she was a bit light-headed and dazed. She was led over to a horseless carriage and climbed inside with her new friends. When the castle came into view, she couldn't help but let a gasp escape her. She put a hand to her mouth.

"It's so big! And beautiful! Wow, it's amazing!" She breathed.

Sirius, next to her, laughed at her theatrics. "Great, isn't it?"

The carriage stopped right outside a pair of large, oak doors. James jumped out first and offered his hand to help the three girls down. Eva and Rachel graciously accepted, while Lily insisted that she didn't need assistance.

The four Marauders and three girls walked through the oak doors and into the Great Hall. Sirius quickly filled Eva in on the happenings of the welcoming feast.

"Where should I sit? I'm not in any of the houses," she said, getting more and more nervous by the minute.

"Don't worry about it," said Remus, "I'm sure it will be fine if you come and sit with us."

The long table had quite a lot of free space on it due to the lack of first years. Sirius sat down, pulling Eva down next to him while the others sat themselves opposite.

Almost as soon as everyone in the hall was seated and comfortable, the doors opened again and a stern looking professor walked in holding a stool, a hat and a long piece of parchment. She was followed by a trail of terrified looking first years. Sirius nodded his head towards her as she passed and whispered out of the corner of his mouth to Eva.

"McGonagall, head of Gryffindor. Had more detention from her than any other teachers put together."

Eva smiled, his warm breath tickling her neck.

"What's that?" She whispered back, indicating the hat that the professor had just placed on the stool.

Sirius put his finger to his lips and mouthed the words: "You'll see."

After a few moments in which all the students stared expectantly at the old hat, it broke into song.

It sung for a good five minutes about the different houses and the traits that they fostered. After it returned to its original state, McGonagall read a list of names from the scroll she held and one by one the first years sat on the stool and put the hat on their heads. Each time the hat yelled out the name of one of the houses and the child went and took a seat at the corresponding table.

The once spacious table had suddenly become a lot more crowded and Sirius found himself, for the second time that day, sitting very close to Eva. He didn't mind this of course; she was a very pretty girl. He couldn't help but noticed that it sent a shiver through his body when their bare skin of their arms momentarily touched.

The thought slipped his mind, however, when the plates in front of him filled themselves with food. Immediately he started to pile anything within reach onto his plate.

"Hey, Padfoot, I bet you cant flick this mashed potato all the way to the Slytherin table," said James.

"Oh, I bet I can," replied Sirius with a mischievous grin. He grabbed his spoon and scooped up some potato with it and, taking aim, flicked it as hard as he could to the other side of the room. It his some poor, unsuspecting second year Slytherin right in the back of the head.

What happened next happened very quickly. James burst out laughing, thumping his fists on the table, Lily threw him a dark glare and told him to grow up, and Professor McGonagall stormed down the aisle from the staff table towards Sirius.

"Mr. Black! You will remain in here after the feast is over. Do not leave until I have spoken to you," she said, glaring over her spectacles. "Ah, you must be Miss Miller. Could you please remain in the hall after the feast for a few minutes also? There are a few things that I need to discuss with you." Then she disappeared back to the staff table.

Eva sighed. "I wish we could just go to bed," she said more to herself than anyone else.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind that," Sirius replied with a smirk, noting that she didn't quite pick up on the innuendo.

* * *

Once the feast was over and all the other students stumbled contentedly to their warm beds, Sirius and Eva remained in the Great Hall. Professor McGonagall marched down to them from the staff table, the click of her shoes echoing through the empty hall.

"I will deal with _you _in just a minute," she said and Sirius gulped, "Miss Miller, as I'm sure you are aware, you need to be sorted into one of our four houses. If you would so kindly wear this hat for just a second, we can all get off to bed rather soon."

She took the hat from the professor's hand and placed it on her head. It was too big and fell down over her eyes, surrounding her in darkness. The last thing she saw was Sirius giving a small wink and an encouraging smile.

Well, well, well, said a voice inside her head. A sixth year. This is something I don't see very often. I see… you got expelled from your old school and are now seeking refuge here. Well you are going to need a house then, aren't you? 

Eva wasn't quite sure whether or not she should be replying to the voice. She decided that seeing as it could read her memories, she needn't bother with talking back.

Your parents came through this school. I remember them both. Slytherins through and through. I can certainly feel a bit of them in yourself. You can be reckless at times, and you often let your temper get the better of you. You are also a very wise girl. Loyal to your beliefs and friends, too. And courage! You have a lot of courage. You would do well in any of my houses.

"Please," Eva whispered, "I want to be with my friends. I don't know anyone else in this place. I don't want to be in Slytherin. I am not like my parents at all."

Oh, but you are, my dear. You are very much like your parents. But if you are sure of where you want to be, it had better be GRYFFINDOR!

Relief washed over her as she took the hat off and handed it back to McGonagall. She felt a little bit uneasy by what the hat had said to her. She had never considered herself to be anything like her parents. But the thought was soon driven from her mind when she saw both Sirius and the professor smiling at her.

"Welcome to my house," said McGonagall. "I trust you will find your place there soon enough. I see you are already acquainted with Mr. Black."

She nodded, feeling slightly overwhelmed and eagerly awaiting a soft bed to fall asleep in.

"Now," McGonagall turned her attention to Sirius, "I should really give you detention for what you did at the feast tonight, but seeing as term hasn't even begun yet, I'll let you off the hook. But first I have a little job for you. Kindly show Miss Miller to Gryffindor Tower and make sure she is familiar with the school over the next week or so. The password is 'frogspawn'. Now get going, both of you."

They didn't need telling twice and rushed from the hall.

"I can't believe McGonagall just let me off like that! And congratulations on getting into the best house there is," said Sirius, smiling at Eva. "Wait 'til my mother finds out about this. She will be positively furious!"

"Mine will be too," she replied. "Does your brother go to this school?"

"Yeah, he's a Slytherin. Come this way, I'll show you a shortcut."

They walked for a few minutes in silence, making their way to Gryffindor Tower. Eva's heartbeat had slowed and she had become quite relaxed when suddenly – CRASH!

She screamed and jumped closer to Sirius, clutching the sleeve of his robes.

"Come on, Peeves! Haven't James and I taught you enough times not to mess with us?" He called to the empty hall.

A little man wearing wildly colourful clothing whizzed out of an empty classroom laughing manically.

"Looky who's back, it's Sirius Black!" he cackled, "This year you're very early, in getting yourself a little girly."

Sirius sighed and reached into his pocked, pulling out his wand.

"I did warn you," he said before sending a spell soaring at Peeves, who fell to the floor with a loud thud.

"Don't worry about him. That's just Peeves the poltergeist. He's not too much trouble if you know how to handle him," he said to Eva who was still handing off his arm like a handbag. He laughed softly at her and placed his arm around her waist, pulling her along the corridor. When they reached the end, they found what the source of the crashing had been: Peeves had decided to play dominoes with the suits of armour.

Turning a final corner, they found themselves in front of a portrait of a fat lay wearing a puffy, pink dress.

"Frogspawn," said Sirius and the portrait swung open to reveal the Gryffindor common room that was hidden behind. "After you," he said, stepping aside to let Eva through.

She turned in a full circle, taking in all of her surroundings.

Sirius yawned. "Your dormitory is just up those stairs. It's the door labelled 'Sixth Year Girls'. I'd show you, but us guys aren't able to get up the stairs. It turns into a slide if we try." He smiled.

"Ok. Thank you. I mean for everything; I really appreciate it," Eva said making her way over to the staircase that led up to the girls' dormitories.

"It was a pleasure, my dear," said Sirius with a wink and disappeared up the staircase on the other side of the room.

Eva sighed and walked to her room, ready for bed. She found the right door and tentatively pushed it open.

"Eva!" she was greeted with a hug from Lily and Rachel.

"We were worried that you had been sorted into some other house," said Lily.

"What took you so long?" asked Rachel.

"We ran into Peeves."

"We? Who's we?" asked Lily, raising her eyebrow.

"Uh, Sirius and I," she replied hesitantly.

"Ooh!" Rachel squealed, "Your dashing young prince walked you back to the tower?"

Eva laughed, "It wasn't like that. McGonagall told him to."

Lily and Rachel both giggled.

Able to finally relax after a long day, Eva started to notice more of her surroundings. Lily, who had long, straight, dark red hair and beautiful green eyes, was a tiny bit taller than her. Rachel, on the other hand, was a bit shorter with short blonde hair and big, brown eyes. Freckles covered the bridge of her nose and she had a wide smile of white teeth.

There were two more girls standing in the dormitory. One introduced herself as Alice Johnson. She had long, blonde hair and a sweet, round face. She looked similar to Rachel, but a lot more innocent and lacking the excessive eye makeup.

The last girl in the room was Mary Macdonald. She was short and rather chubby with curly brown hair and small, dark eyes.

On the whole, all of the girls that Eva would be living with were very nice. She was closer to Lily and Rachel but endeavoured to get to know both Alice and Mary better over the coming weeks.

She found her bed and all her luggage packed neatly beside it. Her owl had been let out already and she decided to leave the rest of the unpacking until the following day. She changed quickly into her pyjamas and threw her robes on the floor.

Saying goodnight to everyone, she climbed into her four-poster bed and pulled the hangings around her. Almost as soon as her head hit the pillow, she was engulfed in sleep.

* * *

Sirius walked to his own dormitory, hoping that Eva would be able to find her own.

"What is it about this girl?" he muttered to himself. "A girl has never had this effect on me." Most of the girls that he dated, he didn't really feel any connection to. He only dated them because they were there and willing to relieved his boredom. But Eva was different. There was something special about her.

"Padfoot! Where have you been?" asked James as he walked in the door.

"Talking to McGonagall," he replied, stifling a yawn.

"So what happened to Eva? Where is she?" asked Remus.

"She's probably asleep," he replied, rolling his eyes at the question and just wanting to go to bed himself.

"I meant what house is she in?" Said Remus, patiently.

"Gryffindor, of course. Where else would she be?" Sirius pulled his robes off and threw them hastily onto the already untidy ground. He pulled on a pair of pyjama pants and, not worrying about a top, fell onto his bed.

A few mumbled 'goodnights' came from the beds of the Marauders and Frank Longbottom, their other roommate.

Before he could even draw the hangings on his bed, Sirius drifted into a peaceful slumber.


	5. Chapter 5: Settling Down

**Chapter 5: Settling Down**

Eva's eyes fluttered open. Light flooded through the window at the end of the girls' dormitory. She groaned, really not ready to get out of bed. She could hear someone else moving around the room and drew back her hangings.

"Good morning," she said to Lily's back.

"Oh, you're up! Good. I was thinking we could go down to breakfast early so I could explain some things before class starts."

"I hope I have some of you guys in all my classes," she thought aloud.

Begrudgingly, Eva rolled out of bed and picked up the robes that she had thrown on the ground the night before. She took them into the bathroom where she had a quick shower and got ready.

When she came back out, Rachel, Alice and Mary were all starting to stir and Lily was waiting at the door.

"Morning," she said, "I'll see you at breakfast. Eva and I are going to go down early."

"Mhmm," mumbled the lump lying on Rachel's bed.

Eva followed Lily out of the dormitory and they made their way down through the common room and to the Great Hall.

* * *

"Padfoot! Hey, wake up!" Yelled James and threw his pillow at the sleeping form of Sirius.

"I don' wanna," he said back, his words slurring in his semiconscious state.

"Ok, well I'll make sure to tell Eva that you would prefer to sleep than get up and see her," said Remus with a knowing smile.

"What are you talking about, Moony?" he asked, finally getting out of bed. He went into the bathroom and had a fast shower, and got dressed. When he came back out, everyone else was already leaving the dormitory.

"Hey! Wait up!" he called, jogging after them.

The four Marauders and Frank Longbottom walked through the many winding corridors of the castle towards the Great Hall.

"It feels good to be back," said Peter, admiring his school.

"It sure does," agreed Sirius, a grin spreading on his face.

"I reckon I'll get Evans this year," said James.

The rest of the boys scoffed.

"Good luck with that, Prongs," said Remus, "You've been trying for years. In case you hadn't noticed, it's not working!"

"Mate," Sirius cried, "Take a hint. She's not interested!"

James crossed his arms and continued walking sulkily.

* * *

When Eva and Lily entered the Great Hall, they noticed that there weren't many other students at the tables.

"I guess we're really early," said Lily, sitting down at the Gryffindor table. Eva sat down next to her and started piling pancakes onto her plate.

They ate for a while in silence before starting up a light conversation. Eva's first impression of Lily had been of someone who was very moody and irritable, but after talking to her for a while and really getting to know her, she realised that she was just like that when James was around.

Rachel, Alice and Mary entered the hall about fifteen minutes later. Rachel sat in the seat next to Lily while the other two sat further up the table by themselves.

"Excited about your first day?" Rachel asked, a big grin plastered to her face.

Eva just nodded. Truth be told, she was a bit nervous.

The hall gradually started to fill with students and teachers and the Marauders were some of the last people to enter for breakfast.

James sat in the empty seat next to Lily, and Remus next to Rachel. Peter slid in onto one of Eva's sides, and Sirius on the other.

"Good morning, Sunshine," said James happily, draping his arm over Lily's shoulder. She just rolled her eyes and shrugged it back off.

Professor McGonagall walked down the table handing out timetables to all her students. Lily and Rachel got theirs and immediately started comparing them.

Eva held hers in her hand and looked at it. It was very confusing. Sirius glanced at his and then leaned over to Eva and peered over her shoulder at hers.

"Ah. We have double Charms together. Anyone else have Charms first?" he asked the rest of the group.

"I do," said Peter.

"Yeah, me and Remus do, too," Rachel replied.

"Oh damn. I have Arithmancy first up," groaned Lily.

"Hey, me too!" Yelled James, as excited as a child in a lolly shop. "Looks like we'll be spending a fair bit of time together this year, Evans. Then double Potions together. I like Mondays!"

Lily groaned and placed her head upon the table.

After much consideration, Sirius noted that he shared every subject with Eva that day but Defence Against the Dark Arts, which was last. He had Herbology with James and Peter.

Eva was very glad to see that she had her friends in all her classes. Other than Sirius, she shared most of her with Lily and Rachel.

"Right!" said Sirius, clapping his hands together; "It's time for Charms."

He, Eva, Rachel, Remus and Peter headed off to the Charms corridor while James and Lily went to Arithmancy.

"So who teaches Charms?" Eva asked as they walked.

"Flitwick," replied Rachel, "He's head of Ravenclaw and barely comes up to my knees! Ok, well that's a bit of an exaggeration, but he is very short."

Sure enough, when Sirius pushed the door to their classroom open and stepped aside to let her through, Eva saw a tiny little man standing on a pile of books at the front of the class. Sirius led her to a seat at the back of the room and the others followed.

"Right class, settle down! Today we are going to be practicing banishing charms, just to refresh your memory," squeaked the little wizard. He passed feathers around the class and each student took one. Soon the whole room was notoriously noisy and chaotic. When the bell rang for morning break, Eva was very eager to get out of the room. Double Potions with the Slytherins was afterwards and, from what she had heard from her friends, it wasn't something to look forward to.

As he sat in Potions, listening to Slughorn drone on and on about a silencing potion, Sirius started to wish he had one himself. He looked forward to lunch when he could get out of the smelly dungeon and grab a bite to eat.

Eva found transfiguration by far the most interesting class of the day and when it came time to leave she headed off to Defence Against the Dark Arts with Lily and watched as Sirius disappeared outside for Herbology. She appreciated the help that he had given her throughout the day. He had showed her to all her classes and sat next to her, helping her out when she was lost.

She was very relieved when dinner came. She felt as if she had been moving all day and was exhausted. Sirius once again sat next to her.

"Thanks," she whispered to him as Professor Dumbledore made a quick speech, "You know, for helping me out today."

"The pleasure was all mine," he replied with a wink before turning his attention to Dumbledore.

The feast was over quickly and Eva and Sirius both returned to their nice, warm beds at last.

* * *

The following days passed like the first: long, busy, tiring, yet very interesting. The days turned into weeks and before she knew it, Eva Miller had been at Hogwarts for a month. The start of October brought a cool change to the weather. The days started to get colder, the nights darker.

Eva had expected her parents to be angry at her becoming a Gryffindor, but she hadn't expected them to ignore her completely. She had expected a howler would come in her first week to tell her how disappointed they were, but after not receiving news from them after a whole month, she concluded that they were giving her the cold shoulder. Not that she minded, of course. In fact, Eva made no attempt whatsoever to contact her parents and she couldn't have been happier that they were equally as unfussed.

With a lot of help from her friends, she started to find her own way around the huge castle, only getting lost every couple of days. Sirius and Eva were becoming closer with each passing day, as were all the sixth year Gryffindor girls.

James and Lily's fights were becoming bigger and more frequent. They would go as follows: James asking for a date, Lily declining, him insisting, her jinxing.

It was common to find Remus and Rachel huddled in a corner of the Gryffindor Tower, late at night, talking to each other. They often left seeking solitude and peace away from Lily and James' bickering and Sirius and Eva's playful banter. Anyone could see why they wanted to escape it.

Time and time again Peter would find himself the third wheel, caught between the three 'couples'.

In short, things started to set into a comfortable routine, and both Eva and Sirius found that for once in their lives, they truly felt at ease with the world.


	6. Chapter 6: Of Hogsmeade And Sweets

**Chapter 6: Of Hogsmeade and Sweets**

"You know, Padfoot. It has been a whole month since school started and you haven't had a single girlfriend. I think you're starting to lose your touch," said James, shaking his head over the game of Wizard's Chess that they were playing.

Sirius just shrugged, "Guess I've been busy. Night to C3."

"You're saying it like that's a bad thing," put in Remus. "I for one think it's good that Sirius is taking a break from the poor girls. I think Eva has been a good influence on you."

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked, frowning slightly.

"Oh, well, I was just saying," he said with a shrug. "You have been spending a lot of time around her. I mean, maybe that's why you haven't had time for any other girls."

Sirius decided to let the topic drop. They sat in the common room on Friday night, the day before the initial Hogsmeade weekend of the year.

"So are you excited about your first Hogsmeade trip?" Lily asked.

"Definitely! I can't wait," replied Eva. She wrote the last sentence of her Herbology essay and threw her quill down on the table.

"Finished!" she said triumphantly.

Rachel groaned, "I'm not even half done!"

Eva stood up and stretched. She looked around and saw Sirius, James, Remus and Peter sitting by the fire.

"I'll see you guys later. You'll probably concentrate better without me here, anyway," she said and walked over to her other friends by the hearth.

Sirius' brow was furrowed and he looked up from the chessboard.

"Oh, hey," he said, a smile spreading across his face before turning back to the game. "James, I give up. I am never going to beat you at this. You are the master of Wizard's Chess!"

"Ha, I won! Did you see that, Evan?" he yelled across the room, "See, I _do_ succeed at things!"

"So. Hogsmeade tomorrow. You excited?" Sirius asked Eva, grinning at James' theatrics.

"Yes! I can't wait to go to this lolly shop you keep telling me about."

"Well I'm going to have an early night, I think. We are meeting down here at nine o'clock tomorrow morning so we have the whole day in Hogsmeade. Grab your friends and come with us."

"Ok. Rachel will be happy enough, but I'm not sure how I'll be able to convince Lily to spend the whole day with James."

"Easy; just don't tell her he's coming! Anyway, I'm tired. Sleep tight, love. Don't let the bed bugs bite," he said with a wink and disappeared up the stairs to the boys' dormitories.

Eva sighed and returned to where Lily and Rachel were sitting, cross-legged, finishing their homework.

"We are leaving at nine tomorrow morning with the guys," she said. Rachel agreed and, surprisingly, so did Lily.

"Where did your boyfriend go?" Rachel asked.

"He is not," said Eva. This was a joke that Rachel had been using for the last two weeks: referring to Sirius and Eva's relationship as a romantic one. "He went to bed, if you must know, and I think I will too. It's been a long week and we have an early start tomorrow."

"Yeah, you're right. I'll be up soon," said Lily.

"Just make sure you go to your _own _bed, Eva," said Rachel with a mischievous grin.

She walked over to the stairs leading up to the girls' dormitories and poked her tongue out at her two friends.

She walked up to her room and collapsed on her bed in sheer exhaustion. Almost as soon as her head touched the pillow, Eva's eyes began to feel heavy and she feel into a deep sleep.

* * *

Before she knew it, it was morning again. Eva opened her eyes but closed them again quickly, shielding them from the bright rays of sunlight that poured in through the window above her bed.

"Come on, Eva! We are meeting the boys in twenty minutes."

"Huh?" she said sleepily, searching for the source of the speaking. The source was Lily.

"I _said_ you only have twenty minutes to get ready! Rachel is already downstairs with Remus. Come on! No, you're _not_ going back to sleep!" she said, yanking the doona off Eva.

"Alright, alright, I'm up," she said, getting slowly out of bed and quietly walking to the bathroom, so as not to wake Alice and Mary. She showered very quickly, dried her hair with a spell she had learnt from Lily and hastily put on some makeup. When she walked back into the dormitory, Lily was already prepared. Swearing softly, Eva hurried to her wardrobe and pulled out a pair of tight blue jeans and a baggy grey t-shirt. She stuffed a jumper in her bag and threw a large, red, beaded necklace around her neck.

"Done!" she exclaimed, and her and Lily both left the dormitory to meet everyone else.

* * *

On Saturday morning, Sirius was the first in his dormitory to wake up and considering the amount of sleep he had gotten the night before it wasn't surprising. He went into the bathroom and had a long, hot shower. By the time he was out, Remus was up and getting ready.

"Morning, Moony," he said cheerfully.

"Hey Sirius. I was just about to go down to the common room. Rachel's there."

"Ok. Do you want to help me wake James and Peter first?"

The two boys grinned at each other mischievously and each grabbed a pillow from their bed.

"You take Wormtail, I'll take Prongs," Sirius said and started running at James, pillow raised high over his head. Both boys' blows fell simultaneously and evoked two sets of yelling protests from the boys under attack.

"Hey, Padfoot, get off me!" Yelled James as he scrambled into a position that allowed him to retaliate. Peter just grunted and fell out of bed.

"Oh, you're hopeless," said Remus and shook his head, an amused smile on his face. "I'll see you later guys. I'm going down to the common room."

"Alright," said three sets of voices.

"I've got to get ready," Sirius said more to himself than anyone else, realising that he still had his towel wrapped around his waste. He thought that it probably wouldn't be a great idea attacking James further wearing nought by a towel. Doing so had the potential to lead to a somewhat compromising position where both parties involved would prefer not to be.

He walked over to the cupboard at the end of his bed and rummaged around in it for a while. Eventually he pulled out a pair of black jeans and a blue polo shirt. After putting them on, he sat on his bed and pulled on a pair of very worn out trainers, making a mental note to buy some new shoes over Christmas break.

Peter had already gotten dressed, deciding to skip a shower and James was still in the process of getting out of bed.

"Come on, Prongsie!" whined Sirius and threw a pair of clothes at James. "We are going to be late if you don't hurry your ass up!"

"Yeah, yeah I'm coming," said James, throwing the clothes Sirius got him back into his wardrobe and taking out a new pair. Within minutes he was set and the three boys headed downstairs to meet their friends.

* * *

The four Marauders, Eva, Lily and Rachel were all down at the oak front doors by five minutes to nine. They each got their name ticked off on Filch's list and headed out into the sunny morning.

The walk down to Hogsmeade was a pleasant one; the sky was blue, bird chirped happily in trees and Lily and James hadn't had a single fight yet.

"So I was thinking we should go to the Three Broomsticks first up. All this walking is making me thirsty," Sirius said to the group.

"Sounds good to me!" said Rachel, and the others agreed.

When they got into the high street, Eva gasped. It was so much better than the local town she had been to near her old school.

The rest of her friends steered her towards a tavern on the far side of the street. A sign hanging above the doorway indicated that it was the Three Broomsticks.

Sirius pulled open the door and let Eva enter before him. He followed her in; the others close behind. They found an empty table at the back of the room and sat down. It was a bit too small for them so they had to squeeze in tightly.

"Hey, Rosie!" James yelled to a barmaid that had just walked past. She turned around and quickly made her way back to them.

"Oh, James, Sirius, it's lovely to see you. Seven butterbeers will it be?" Said the young woman, placing her hand affectionately on James' shoulder.

"Hello Madam Rosmerta," said Remus with a smile. The other girls greeted her with a small smile and Peter just squeaked and blushed.

"Been busy, Rosie dear?" Sirius asked the woman.

"Oh, you know how it is. Not much out of the ordinary. I expect it will get quite busy today, though. First trip down here for the school and all. It's good of Albus to tell us when you guys are coming. It's always good to be prepared for a bunch of noisy students that come rampaging through your pub," she said with a smile.

"I thought you enjoyed us coming down here!" James objected.

"Oh, course I do! You boys always manage to make me smile. Now quit your yakking if you want those butterbeers!" She said and returned to the bar.

Peter was still red in the face and staring after Madam Rosmerta, his tongue hanging out to the side and a bit of drool running down his chin.

"Wormtail's had a massive crush on her for years," Sirius whispered in Eva's ear.

"Oh, because I really couldn't tell," said Eva, sarcastically, and Sirius just shrugged.

Their drinks came quickly and they drank them thirstily, making small talk amongst themselves.

Remus drowned the rest of his glass and thumped it down on the table.

"Rachel and I are going to go to Dervish and Bangs. I need a new cauldron and she owes me a new pair of scales," he said, "I guess we'll meet back up with you guys later."

"I'll come as well," said Peter, "I need to get some stuff, too."

The three got up and left the pub, paying Madam Rosmerta on their way out.

Lily and James were having a conversation about their Arithmancy homework across from Sirius and Eva. Watching them, they raised their eyebrows at each other and Sirius leaned over and whispered in her ear.

"Wow. I've never seen them talk so… sanely before. I reckon they could do with a bit of… alone time. Come on, let's leave them to it."

Eva nodded, "Hey guys, we'll see you later."

They got up and left before Lily had time to protest, paying for their drinks on the way out.

They strolled lazily across the still fairly empty street and Sirius draped his arm around Eva's shoulders.

"I'll show you Honeydukes. You'll love it, I promise."

If the streets outside were empty, they were made up for with the amount of people that were crammed into the sweet store. Sirius grabbed Eva's hand and pulled her around the store, showing her everything.

Fifteen minutes later, they were back outside in the high street.

For the next few hours, they walked around the little town, Sirius pointing out things and Eva asking questions.

They didn't run into any of their friends all day and by the late afternoon, hungry and tired, they decided to return to school.

As they walked up the road to the castle together, Sirius' arm was still draped over Eva's shoulders.


	7. Chapter 7: Who Is Playing Games?

**Chapter 7: Who is Playing Games?**

Sirius lay on the ground in front of the fire, Eva lay curled up on one couch with her head resting in Lily's lap, and James sat at the other end, at Eva's feet. Remus sat on the opposite couch, Rachel sitting on his lap and Peter sitting next to him.

It was Saturday night and they had long since returned from Hogsmeade and they were all bored.

"I know!" James said quite suddenly, "Let's play truth or dare!"

"Oh, yes, let's!" exclaimed Rachel and jumped down on the floor, sitting crossed-legged and looking eager. The rest soon joined her in a loose circle on the rug.

"But how do we know that people are telling the truth?" Eva asked, remembering how she had played the game at her old school and people had always lied their way out of questions.

"Veritaserum," said James, pulling a small bottle out of his robes. He passed it around the circle and everyone applied a drop onto his or her tongue.

"Now no one will by lying," Rachel with a wicked grin.

"Ok, I'm going first," Sirius declared, "Wormtail, truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"Alright. I dare you to go declare your love for that boy over there."

Peter chuckled and walked over to the first year, sitting down next to him. He draped his arm around the boy's shoulder and said, "Hey babe. I've been thinking and I've decided that I like you a lot. What say we go on a date sometime?"

Needless to say, the little boy looked horrified. The Marauders and the girls all burst out laughing as Peter came stumbling back into the circle.

"James, truth or dare?" he asked.

"Dare!"

Peter thought hard for a moment then said, "I dare you to… put twenty chocolate frogs in your mouth at once."

James smiled and summoned a bag down from his room. It was filled with chocolate frogs. He counted out twenty of them and stuffed them easily in his mouth. He chewed and swallowed within a matter of seconds. Peter looked slightly disappointed.

Once his mouth was completely rid of chocolate, James stared long and hard at Lily.

"Truth or dare?" he asked, not breaking eye contact with her.

"Truth."

James lay on his back and put his arms behind his head. Starting up at the ceiling he asked, "What are your true feelings for me, Evans?"

Lily looked angry and as if she wasn't going to answer, but the Veritaserum kicked in and she couldn't help herself.

"I really like you. I think you are extremely good looking, and I think that at times you can be very sweet and sensitive and whenever you ask me out I really want to say yes, but I don't because you can also be so arrogant and egotistical and I don't want to make your damn head any bigger than it already is," said Lily, very quickly, very red in the face and very angry.

James sat up fast, a smirk plastered on his face.

"Truth or dare, Potter?" Lily asked through gritted teeth.

"Dare," said James, winking at her.

"I dare you to not talk to me for the rest of the week!" James' face fell.

Sirius burst out laughing, rolling around on his back.

"Oh, shut up Padfoot. Truth or dare, Moony?"

"Dare," Remus replied, sitting up straighter.

"I dare you to kick Sirius' ass."

Remus smiled and willingly obliged.

"Ouch! Thanks, Moony. Some friend you are," he exclaimed indignantly.

"Oh don't worry, I'll make up for it," he said with another one of his knowing smiles. "Dare, I presume? Ok. I dare you to kiss Eva."

Sirius looked up from the ground and smirked. He turned around so that he was facing Eva and, putting his hand on the back of her head, brought her lips to meet his.

His lips were warm and tender and she let herself melt into the kiss, but it only lasted a fleeting moment before it was over.

Sirius then turned to Rachel, "Truth or dare?" and then game progressed.

Eva sat silently, faintly secluded from the game and thought about her kiss with Sirius. Until then, she had just thought of him as a good friend. Of course, she thought he was very attractive; every girl at the school did. Sure, they flirted a lot, too, but it was just a bit of fun. She wasn't really falling for him, was she?

She wondered what his feelings for her were, but she already knew the answer. She could tell from the way he kissed her, the way his lips softly caressed her own.

Such thoughts filled her head long after the game had ended and she was lying in her bed, trying and failing dismally to fall asleep.

* * *

Lying in bed, Sirius thought about the game he had just played. He had kissed Eva. He, Sirius Black, had kissed Eva Miller. He couldn't help but wonder if she felt the same way. The way she constantly flirted with him and the way she looked at him; she couldn't possibly be just leading him on, could she? He wished that he could speak to her alone, just _be _with her alone without all of his and her friends around.

He longed to feel the touch of her lips again, to taste her saccharine lip-gloss, to smell her sweet perfume.

All these thoughts stayed with him as he tried to get to sleep, and eventually he gave up and decided to go down and sit by the fire to mull things over there.

He rolled out of bed wearing only a pair of tracksuit pants and made his way downstairs. When he reached the bottom, he saw the silhouette of someone sitting on the couch by the fire. Someone had already beaten him to it. He swore under his breath and turned to head back up to bed.

"Sirius?" asked a voice he knew all too well.

He made his way over to the figure sitting on the couch and fell down beside her.

"Hey, Eva," he said.


	8. Chapter 8: Midnight Snacks

**Chapter 8: Midnight Snacks**

"Hey," Eva said as Sirius sat down next to her. He noticed that she was also in her pyjamas.

"Cant sleep?" he asked.

"No, not really," she said with a sigh, "How about you?"

"I have a lot on my mind. I've been thinking."

They both sat in silence for a while, just enjoying each other's company. Eva stared into the fire and watched the flames dancing on the wood. It had burnt out completely but she had relighted it when she came down. She could feel Sirius' eyes on the back of her head and wondered what he was thinking. She turned to face him.

"What are you looking at?"

"You," he said.

She smiled and looked back into the fire. Sirius' stomach started to rumble and he realised that neither of them had eaten lunch that day.

"You hungry?" he asked.

"I'm starving. I can't wait until breakfast," she said with a laugh.

"Why wait til then? Come on, follow me," Sirius said and grabbed her hand, pulling her towards the portrait hole.

"Where are we going? Sirius, you're not wearing anything and I'm in my pyjamas!"

"No, I _am_ wearing something. But if you'd prefer that I wasn't…" he said, smirking.

With her free hand she hit his arm. The touch of her fingers on his bare skin sent a spark through his whole body.

"We're going to get something to eat, duh!" he said winking at her.

He led her out of the portrait hole and they walked down a few corridors. They didn't run into anyone along the way.

When they got to a large painting of a bowl of fruit, Sirius tickled the pear and the painting swung open.

They stepped in and were immediately surrounded by dozens of little house elves, all offering them food.

There were four long tables, identical to those in the Great Hall. They walked over and sat down at the one that corresponded to the Gryffindor one.

"Bring us something to eat, I don't mind what. Oh, and some hot chocolate," Sirius said to the elf that was closest to him.

"Wow," said Eva. "Are we allowed down here?"

"Well put it this way: no one has ever said specifically that we aren't allowed here," he said with a grin spreading across his face.

He leaned back a bit on the bench and Eva couldn't help but stare at his toned body. It was perfect, flawless. He looked up at her and noticed her staring, so she looked away, blushing slightly.

"See something you like, love?" he asked, raising his eyebrow at her.

"Oh, well, no, I wasn't," she stuttered.

Sirius indicated the plates of food that had been brought to the table, an amused expression on his face.

"Oh, right. Yeah I'll have some of that," said Eva, and quickly grabbed a piece of blueberry pie.

"Unless there was something else you were after?" Sirius asked, smirking and cocking and eyebrow. He seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself.

Eva blushed and quickly busied herself with the food. They both ate in silence for a while, Sirius looking at Eva and she avoiding his eyes.

"Ready to go back?" he asked her, drowning the rest of his hot chocolate. Eva nodded and they both got up and left.

It was a lot later in the night as they walked back to Gryffindor Tower, and a chilling breeze rippled through the castle.

"Shit, it's cold!" said Eva, hugging her arms around her in the attempt to keep warm.

Sirius put her arm around her. "Don't worry, we'll be back in our warm beds soon."

He rubbed her arm gently, his thumb caressing her shoulder. His touch caused a shiver to radiate through her whole body. It didn't go without his notice, and he smiled at the idea that he was able to do that to her merely by touching her skin.

It was only a few minutes before they were back in the common room, the fire still in the grate. It was a lot warm and he let his arm fall from around her.

He had gotten his wish. He was finally alone with her and he hadn't done anything about it. They both just stood there staring at each other for a while.

Eventually Eva whispered, "Why did Remus dare you to kiss me?"

"I'm not quite sure," Sirius shrugged and a smirk came across his face, "Why? You didn't enjoy it?"

"Well I didn't say that, did I?" she said, staring into his eyes with a small smile.

"In that case, you wouldn't mind if I did it again, then."

Sirius closed the space between them and put one hand around Eva's waist and the other on the back of her head. He tilted it back and pressed his lips against hers.

Eva felt the familiar melting sensation that she had merely hours before and started to kiss him back. His tongue traced her lips, begging for entry and she obliged by opening her mouth slightly. They stayed like that for what felt like ages, exploring each other's mouths.

But then Sirius pulled away. His hands left her head and waist and he walked to the stairs that led up to the boys' dormitories. When he got there he turned around and looked back at Eva.

"Goodnight, my dear." And he walked up the stairs and was gone.

* * *

Eva stood in the same spot for a while before turning and heading back up to bed. When she got into her dormitory, she climbed into her bed and pulled the hangings around her. She placed her head on her pillow and, this time around, had no problem getting to sleep.

* * *

Sirius walked up the staircase to the boys' dormitories. He opened the door to his own and found Remus wide-awake, sitting on his bed. 

"Where have you been?" he asked, raising his eyebrow.

"With Eva."

"Oh? And what happened?"

Sirius grinned, "I don't kiss and tell."

**A/N: Thanks to anyone who is reading this! But I'd still appreciate it if you took the time to leave a review. I've written up to chapter 13 and I'm just editting them before I post. The current length of the story is going to be somewhere between 17-20 chapters. So I still have a few left to write so if you want to see something happen, leave a review and I'll see what I can do. Catch!**


	9. Chapter 9: The Morning After

**Chapter 9: The Morning After**

Eva woke up late the next morning and noticed that everyone else in her dormitory was still in bed. She decided to have a relaxing bath and then get started on some homework. Half an hour later, she came out of the bathroom feeling quite refreshed. She pulled on a pair of tracksuit pants and a t-shirt and pulled a jacket around her shoulders. Slipping on a pair of thongs, she was about to leave for the common room when Rachel stirred.

"Where are you going? Wait for me," she said sleepily.

Eva closed the door quietly and went to sit on her bed.

"I was going to do some homework downstairs," she said to Rachel.

"No, we should go to the library. We'll get more done there. Just wait a sec."

Rachel got out of bed and shook Lily awake.

"Come on, Lils. We're going to the library. Come on, I know you can't resist a nice pile of homework!"

Lily groaned and rolled out of bed. She and Rachel got dressed quickly, grabbed their bags full of essays and textbooks and all three of them headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast before going to the library.

* * *

Sirius Black, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew slept in on Sunday morning and didn't wake up until lunchtime. Remus, however, was up early in the common room doing his homework. He saw the three girls leave but decided not to follow them; they probably wanted some 'girl time' alone and he didn't want to intrude on such.

* * *

In the library, Eva, Lily and Rachel got started on their homework. Deciding to get it out of the way first, Eva pulled out the potions essay that Slughorn had set them. They worked for about half an hour in silence, and soon they were all starting to get bored. 

"So what's going on with you and James?" Eva finally asked, "I mean, yesterday you guys were talking civilly, and then you said you liked him, but now you wont let him talk to you. I really don't get it!"

None of the girls had mentioned the game the night before and Lily looked a bit flustered.

"Well you heard me, didn't you? _Yes_, I like him. A lot. But he is arrogant and stupid and I don't like him."

"Right. So let me get this straight. You like him, but you don't like him," said Rachel, raising her eyebrow.

"Yes!" Yelled Lily, throwing her hands in the air.

"So does that mean you are going to go out with him?" Eva asked and received a glare from Lily that clearly meant 'no'.

"So how about you and Remus?" Lily turned her attention to Rachel.

"What about me and Remus?"

"Well do you like him?"

"Of course. He is one of my closest friends, not to mention my oldest."

"You know what we mean," said Eva, "Are you going to date him?"

"Of course not! We are friends, that's all. And that's more than I can say about you and Mr. Black! What's going on there?"

"He kissed me," said Eva, looking down at the table.

"Yes, we know. We all saw that," said Lily.

"No, I mean after the game. I couldn't sleep and I went down to the common room and so did he and he kissed me."

Rachel and Lily both squealed loudly, gaining a glare from Madam Pince and a warning about keeping the volume down.

"Oh my gosh!" said Lily, "So you guys _do_ like each other! Rachel was right!"

"Shh," said Eva, mindful of the librarian, "keep it down."

Conversation drifted around the various 'couples' for a while, and homework lay forgotten on the table beside them.

* * *

Sirius, James and Peter were woken up by Remus just in time for lunch. They stumbled lazily down to the Great Hall and sat at the table, helping themselves to sandwiches and drinks. 

"So what happened with you and Eva last night?" Remus asked Sirius.

"I've already told you. I don't kiss and tell," said Sirius with a grin.

"I think you just told us anyway!" said James and clapped his friend on the back.

"What happened?" asked Peter, quite clearly confused.

"He kissed her, Wormtail. Stop being so thick," said James, shoving his friend in the side.

"Are you going to ask her out?"

"Ahh, I dunno Moony. I might ask her to the next Hogsmeade weekend, but I'm happy with things the way they are now. I don't want things to change. I mean, I don't want to lose as a friend, but I want her as more at the same time. Do you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I know exactly what you mean," said Remus, taking a bite into his sandwich and looking up the table for Rachel.

* * *

"We should go down to dinner now. I'm starving. Maybe it wasn't a great idea to skip lunch," said Lily, packing her things away. 

"Look on the bright side," said Rachel, "At least we are all up to date on our homework."

All three girls put their things together and headed down to the Great Hall. They found the Marauders sitting at the middle of the table, and Rachel walked over to join them. She sat down opposite Remus and Eva sat opposite Sirius. Lily sat next to Rachel, which was the furthest seat away from James.

Sirius grinned at Eva and all throughout the meal she could feel his eyes on her.

"Padfoot, could you please tell Evans to please pass the potato?" James asked in an all-to-polite voice, still under the obligation of the dare and therefore not able to ask Lily himself.

Sirius cleared his throat, "Evans, could you please pass Prongs the potato?"

Eva gave Sirius a warning glare and kicked him lightly under the table. Lily picked up the bowl of mashed potato and begrudgingly passed it along the table to James.

"Padfoot, please tell Evans thankyou and ask her whether she will go out with me," said James, smirking at Lily.

"Evans, Prongs says thank-"

"Yes I heard him, thank you Sirius," Lily said, through gritted teeth, her face flushing a deep red.

Eva kicked Sirius again, slightly harder this time, and his hand rushed under the table and caught her foot before she could pull it away. He grinned at her and raised his eyebrow. She just crossed her arms and waited for him to release her foot; he didn't.

Finally once the meal ended, Sirius dropped her foot gently and hurried off with his friends to escape her annoyance.

Behind the Marauders, Eva, Lily and Rachel walked up to Gryffindor Tower and to their cosy beds. In a silent, but mutual, agreement, they all decided an early night would be fitting.

* * *

The rest of October passed quickly and very busily. It was Halloween before Eva was able to really sit down and relax. It had been a normal night, just with a larger-than-usual feast. Eva sat in the common room, on the couch by the fire, and Sirius came to join her. 

"Guess what," he said.

"What?"

"Prongs just asked Lily to Hogsmeade on Saturday and she rejected him."

"Sorry to disappoint you Sirius, but I'm kind of used to that by now."

"No, just listen. Then he asked her to go with him _just as friends_ and guess what she said. She said yes!"

"Holy shit! Really?" Eva jumped up and went to find Lily. She was sitting in their dormitory talking to Rachel.

"Lily! This is so exciting! You are finally dating him," said Eva as she entered the room.

"We are only going as friends! And that is only because he has been somewhat tolerable lately," Lily said defensively, crossing her arms.

"Oi, Eva! I hadn't finished talking to you!" Sirius' voice floated up to their room.

She sighed, "Sorry guys, I'll be back in a second."

"What, Sirius? I was in the middle of an important conversation," she said, sitting back down next to him.

"Well _I_ thought _we_ were having an important conversation," he objected, putting his arm around her waist and pulling her a bit closer to him.

A grin worked its way across her face, despite her attempt to hide it.

"Anyway, what I was saying," said Sirius, leaning his head back on the couch, "was that I think you should come with me to Hogsmeade on Saturday. And not like Prongs and Evans, I mean like a date."

"Alright, I accept," she said and got up to go back to Lily and Rachel. As she walked up the staircase to her dormitory, she knew that Sirius was watching her the whole way.

**A/N: review guys! I'd love to hear from you.**


	10. Chapter 10: The Effects Of Firewhiskey

**Chapter 10: The Effects of Firewhiskey**

"Detention!" roared McGonagall, her nostrils flaring dangerously. "You will both meet Mr. Filch at his office at nine o'clock tomorrow morning _sharp_."

"But professor! Tomorrow is a Hogsmeade trip!"

"I am well aware of that, Miss Miller."

"But I have a hot date!"

"Take your seat, Mr. Black, otherwise you will be having a '_hot date_' with Mr. Filch every Saturday for the next two months!"

Sirius cringed at the thought, and slumped back into his seat with Eva next to him.

"I _told_ you we shouldn't have cursed Snape in the middle of class," she hissed at him, and started to take the notes that the professor was writing on the board.

"Well it's not _my_ fault you hit McGonagall's cup of coffee instead!" he hissed back.

The bell rang concluding lessons for the day and the Marauders, Eva, Lily and Rachel all went back to the common room to get some last minute homework done before the weekend.

"I can't believe you guys landed yourselves in detention and messed up your first date!" James yelled falling down onto the couch by the fire.

"Tell me about it," Sirius groaned, sitting down in one of the armchairs and pulling Eva onto his lap.

"I'm still angry at you, you know?" she said, crossing her arms, but not making any attempt to get off him.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," he said, smiling at her affectionately.

* * *

Saturday morning, Eva and Sirius were both the first to rise in their dormitories. They met in the common room at ten minutes to nine and made their way to Filch's office together.

"I hope he doesn't have us doing anything _too_ strenuous," said Eva.

"You hope all you like, love, but this is Filch we're talking about. He'd be hanging us from the ceiling in chains if he had it his way," Sirius replied, leading the way through the deserted castle.

When they got to Filch's office, he handed them two cloths and a bottle of 'Superb Silver Shiner'.

"You're gonna be shining in the trophy room this morning. No magic. I'll be in to check on you in two hours," he grunted and led them to the said room.

Once he left them alone, Sirius sat down on the ground and sighed.

"Could have been worse," he said, "This isn't overly tiring, just boring as hell. Who actually gives a flying fuck about these trophies, anyway?"

"Oh, I for one find them just fascinating. I come down here whenever I have a free minute and just look at them," Eva said with a mischievous grin.

"Well I guess we'd better get started if we want them finished when he gets back."

They worked solidly for two hours, polishing the assortment of trophies until Filch came back.

"You finished?" he asked them, inspecting some of the cups and medals.

"Yep," Sirius said, "Couldn't let you down now, could we?"

Filch just grunted in reply.

"So does that mean we can leave?" asked Sirius.

He grunted again, but this time the grunt was accompanied with a nod.

Thankful for the short detention, Sirius and Eva made their way back to the Gryffindor common room.

"What a waste. No one will be back from Hogsmeade for hours!" Eva complained.

"Well at least we will have the common room to ourselves with everyone else gone."

He spoke the password and they both headed through the portrait hole.

"Or not," said Eva, her eyes moving over all the noisy first and second years that filled the common room.

"Shit," said Sirius and stepped back out and into the corridor. "I know where we can go, follow me."

* * *

"Wow," said Eva, her mouth wide as she looked at the room, "What is this place?"

"Room of Requirements," said Sirius, leaning casually against the doorframe.

A large fire was burning merrily in the grate on one side of the room and a large couch sat in front of it. There was a giant rug spread by the hearth and a small coffee table on one side. Next to the fireplace was a large liquor cabinet filled with an assortment of alcohol. On the opposite wall was a king sized bed fitted with dark red sheets and golden pillows.

Eva stood in the middle of the beautiful room, completely awestruck.

"So how did it get here?"

"Well you walk up and down the corridor thinking of something that you want or need and then a door appears that leads to this room. Within it is whatever you needed," Sirius explained.

"So why is there a bed?" Eva said, turning to face Sirius and raising her eyebrow, "I don't think you're tired."

Sirius smirked, "Wishful thinking, I guess."

He walked over to the liquor cabinet and pulled out a bottle and two glasses.

"Firewhiskey?" he asked and poured a glass for himself and then for Eva.

They both sat down on the couch in front of the roaring fire.

"This sure beats a noisy common room filled with eleven year olds," said Eva, taking a sip of her drink.

"Mhmm," said Sirius distractedly, "You know, I used to drink a bottle of this stuff at least once a week. This is the first I have had all year though. I guess lately I haven't been as depressed as I usually am."

"Depressed? You? Get out of here," Eva scoffed. Sirius just shrugged.

"I don't really know you that well. Hey, let's play truth or dare, but without the dare. So just truth. You know, to get to know each other better."

"Alright," Eva agreed, "What's your favourite colour?"

"Black. What's your favourite food?"

"Oh, that's difficult. Chocolate. When I first met you, at your house, you called your family inquisitive, sanctimonious purebloods or something. How did you of all people come off sounding such an intellectual?"

"Iniquitous, not inquisitive. Oh, and don't forget sordid. Yeah, about that," he said, nervously running a hand through his hair, "That morning I'd gotten a letter from Prongs detailing a letter that he'd gotten. He tried owling Lily over the holidays and got that as his reply. I thought it would be a good way to impress the pretty girl that had come to my house. So did it work?"

"Almost," she replied with a grin. "Why do you and your friends have nicknames for each other?"

"It's fun. What could you possibly have done that was bad enough to get you expelled from your old school?"

"Had a relationship with a teacher. What's your Quiddich team?"

"Wait, what?" Sirius asked, frowning slightly at Eva.

She sighed. "It's not how it sounds, really. He was young, only just out of school himself. They all thought I was sleeping with him. I wasn't though. He was just nice to talk to, I guess. But they were just happy for any excuse to get rid of me. I wasn't exactly what you'd call a 'model student'."

"Fuck," said Sirius.

"It's no big deal," Eva said, waving it aside. "It's my turn. So, do you like me?"

"Hell yes. Do you think I would have asked you out if I didn't?"

"Yeah, but James asks Lily out all the time, and he doesn't really like her, does he?"

"Oh yes he does. He _really _does," Sirius said and he stopped grinning and turned to face Eva. "Are you a virgin?"

"No, I'm not, Sirius. Are you?"

He chuckled softly at that, "Me? Of course not! My turn. So, do you want to put that bed to good use?" he asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Subtlety was never your strong suit, Mr. Black," she said, getting up and following him to the bed. He lay down on it and pulled her on top of him.

He kissed her passionately on the lips, caressing her tongue with his. He put one hand on her back, pulling her body closer against his, and ran the other through her hair. In one swift move he rolled her over so that he was lying on top of her.

"You seem to have had a lot of practise at this," she said, breaking the kiss.

"Shut up," he said and started kissing her again. He kissed her neck and nibbled her ear, all the while exploring her body with his hands. He ran his hand along her leg and placed it on the top of her jeans. He looked at her, seeking permission to continue and when she nodded he unbuttoned her jeans and slid them off.

A few moments later, their clothes lay forgotten in a pile at the foot of the bed, and the sounds of lovemaking filled the room.

**A/N: read and review.**


	11. Chapter 11: LE For JP

**Chapter 11: L.E for J.P**

When Eva woke the next morning, Sirius was still peacefully asleep next to her. Pulling on her clothes that were still lying on the floor from the night before, she quietly walked from the room so as not to wake him.

Just as quietly she slid back into her dormitory and into her bed, trying not to wake any of the other girls. She had just pulled the hangings around her bed and let out a sigh or relief that none of the girls had woken to her coming in, when-

"Where were you last night?" asked Lily's voice.

Eva groaned, not wishing to tell her friends what she had been doing during the night and, more to the point, with whom.

"Out," was all she said in response to the question.

"Oh? I kind of noticed. Where were you?"

"With Sirius," she said, covering her head with her pillow so she wouldn't have to hear Lily's reply.

"With Sirius?! Oh my goodness, you weren't in his dormitory were you?"

"No. We were in the room of requirements."

"Oh, I've heard of that place. Were you with him all night? What were you doing?"

"What do you think we were doing?" Eva whispered loudly, pulling the hangings back to glare at her friend, "We sure as hell weren't playing Exploding Snap!"

Lily just stared at Eva, a look of worry and concern printed on her face.

"Oh, Lily, she slept with him. Get over it. It's not a big deal!" came a muffled voice from Rachel's bed.

"You slept with him?" Lily screamed, "But you two are barely going out! It was supposed to be your first date yesterday."

"Shut up, Lils," said Rachel. "They've been horny for each other for, like, ever!"

Eva laughed at this. "Stop worrying about me, Lily. I don't care, so you shouldn't either. What I _do _care about is hearing what you and James got up to yesterday!"

"Well I don't care, so you shouldn't either," Lily mimicked and crossed her arms.

"Oh, but you so do care," Rachel scoffed. "You've cared ever since first year!"

"I have not!" cried Lily, going bright red in the face.

"Be quiet, Rachel. Lily, spill the beans!" Eva demanded.

"Oh, fine. You guys win," Lily sighed.

* * *

**I can't believe I agreed to go to Hogsmeade with James Potter! What have I gotten myself into? **

**We had agreed to meet at midday in the Entrance Hall. I woke up at eleven and had a nice, long shower before dressing in a pair of tight black jeans and a white t-shirt. Over the top, I threw a lime green sweater; it was Potter's favourite one and he always told me so whenever I wore it.**

**I looked at myself in the mirror, suddenly nervous for some reason. Eva's bed was empty as she had detention in the morning with Sirius and so was Rachel's. She was probably off somewhere with Remus. **

**I brushed my hair for the third time. I'm almost as bad as Potter! Oh, I hate it when he runs his hands through his hair. He can be such an egotistical jerk. Why am I going to Hogsmeade with him again?**

**At ten minutes to twelve, I left the dormitory and headed down to the Entrance Hall. Potter was already waiting for me when I got there. He had dressed well, which I was thankful for. He was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans and a black jumper. **

"**I hope you haven't been waiting long," I said when I got to him.**

"**Only six years," he said, smirking at me.**

**It took me a few moments, but I finally realised what he meant. It made my blood boil.**

"**Ok, let's get one thing straight," I said through gritted teeth, "This isn't a date. I am NOT dating you. Understand?"**

"**Yeah, whatever you say Evans," he said and strode over to Filch who was waiting at the door with a long list.**

"**Potter and Evans," Potter said to the caretaker and two ticks were added to the piece of parchment. **

"**Potter, if you don't start deflating that head of yours right now, I am going to go back to the castle and leave you in Hogsmeade dateless," I said to him as we walked down the driveway of the school in the direction of the village. **

"**Dateless?" he turned to face me with an amused grin, "Evans, this isn't a date. We're not dating. We're only going to Hogsmeade as friends, remember?"**

**I didn't talk to him for the rest of the walk into the village and he didn't push for conversation. He seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself for some reason. **

"**Wanna get some lunch?" he asked when we finally reached the high street. **

"**Yeah, that sounds good," I said, not really looking him in the eye.**

"**Three Broomsticks, then?"**

"**Sure," I nodded.**

**I followed him towards the pub and he pulled open the door and stood aside.**

"**Ladies first," he said with a smirk.**

"**Thank you, Potter."**

**Seeing as it was lunchtime, the Three Broomsticks was almost full. The only table left available was one in the far corner of the pub, secluded from all the others.**

**I groaned inwardly and walked to the table. Potter would think that sitting away from everyone else was a sign that I was into him, which I most certainly wasn't. **

**He sat down opposite me and placed his hands on the edge of the table and leaned back in his chair. **

"**Madam Rosmerta!" he called to a woman standing at the bar, and held up two fingers to her. After a few moments, she brought over two butterbeers and two menus.**

"**How are you today, James? Where's Sirius? Detention? Oh that boy is a troublemaker, isn't he? So who's your pretty date?" she asked with a smile, nodding your head at me.**

"**Lily Evans, and she's not my date… yet," he said to the barmaid with a wink. I chose to ignore his last comment.**

**We gave the waitress our orders for lunch and she disappeared behind the bar again.**

"**Don't," I said through gritted teeth, "tell people that we are dating."**

"**I didn't!" he said, looking a bit hurt by my sudden outburst. **

**When our lunch came, we ate it in an awkward silence, neither of us talking. Potter drowned the last bit of his second butterbeer and got to his feet. I followed him up to the bar.**

"**How much, Rosie?" he asked the barmaid a little moodily and got some coins out of his pocket. **

"**For one of my favourite customers, let's say fourteen Sickles," she said, smiling at him.**

**I got some silver out of my purse and put them on the counter. Potter picked them up and handed them back to me.**

"**Don't worry, I'll get it," he said and collected his change.**

"**You didn't need to do that," I said as we walked out into the busy street.**

"**Look," he turned to face me. "It's my fault we've been having a shit day and I'm not going to make you pay for sitting there and watching me completely fuck this up."**

**We were halfway there before I realised he was leading me back up to the castle. I was a bit disappointed that he planned on cutting our trip short, but followed silently. We were almost at the Oak front door when he stopped abruptly.**

"**Hey, do you want to go for a walk?" he asked suddenly.**

"**We just went on a walk, Potter," I said back irritably, still annoyed that we had come back early.**

"**No, I mean like a proper walk. Around the lake."**

**I looked at my watch. "I guess I don't have anything better to do."**

"**Good," he said and started walking. **

**We walked for a while in silence, but not an awkward silence like before. It was a comfortable silence and, despite myself, I enjoyed it.**

**Potter stopped walking and dug his hands in the pockets of his jeans, looking up at the bright blue sky.**

"**Nice day, isn't it?" he observed.**

"**James Potter, walks with girl and resorts to talking about weather," I said in my best news reporter voice.**

"**Don't tell Sirius," he said, giving me a sidelong grin. "He'd be very disappointed in me."**

**I didn't mean to laugh, but I couldn't help myself. What he said had been funny.**

**We walked a little further around the lake and he stopped and sat down under a large tree.**

"**You know, this is our favourite spot. Padfoot, Moony, Wormtail and I."**

"**I can see why. It's nice," I said, taking a seat next to him.**

"**And you're being nice at the moment. You're not usually nice to me," he said, turning to look at me.**

"**Yeah, I know."**

"**Why not? Why do you hate me?"**

**I sighed. "I don't know. I guess it's because you are so arrogant and selfish and bigheaded. If you cut all that out, then maybe I'd be nice to you."**

"**I've tried. It doesn't work. You're still not nice to me and I don't get it. How can you care, but not be nice?"**

"**What do you mean 'how can I care'?" I asked, starting to get irritated again.**

"**I know you care, Evans. About me, I mean. To an extent."**

"**Excuse me? How can you say that? This is what I mean! You think that everyone is in love with you!" I shouted, getting to my feet and starting to walk back up to the castle to get away from the jerk.**

"**Look at the jumper you're wearing." He said softly. "You know it's my favourite. I **_**always **_**tell you whenever you wear it. You agreed to come to Hogsmeade with me today, even if it was only as friends, and you even wore my favourite jumper. And I wont even **_**start **_**on that game of Truth or Dare the other night."**

"**Well I happen to like this jumper!" I turned around and yelled at him.**

"**No you don't."**

"**Don't you dare tell me what I do and don't like, Potter!"**

"**Last time I told you that you looked hot in that jumper, you told me you hated it and I don't recall you ever wearing it again until today," he said calmly then sighed. "Can we stop fighting for once? Please just come and sit back down. I was enjoying your company."**

**I continued to stand where I was, glaring at him.**

"**Please?" he asked again and I gave in and went to sit next to him. We were silent for a while, just looking out at the lake and taking pleasure in the sunshine. **

"**You know," I said leaning a bit closer to him, "You didn't **_**completely **_**fuck today up."**

**He chuckled and grinned at me. "So does this mean I'm forgiven?"**

"**I guess it does. And for the record, I do hate this jumper. I only used to wear it when I had nothing else."**

"**So how about today? Are all your other clothes in the wash, or was I right in saying that you really do care?"**

**I thought for a moment and remained quiet after the question, but my silence said everything.**

"**I've been waiting six years to hear that," he said, grinning for ear to ear.**

"**I didn't say anything," I said a bit confused.**

**"Exactly."**

* * *

"Well? What happened next?" Eva asked as Lily went a bit red in the face. 

"Did you guys hook up? Oh, I bet you did!" Rachel called and began making kissing noises.

"Shut up," said Eva and threw a pillow at her. "Let Lily finish the story!"

* * *

"**Look, I don't want to do anything to piss you off and end up having our relationship going backwards again, so let me just get things straight. Do you like me?"**

**I sighed. I didn't want to answer the question, so again I remained silent.**

"**Don't be so ambiguous," he said. "I want a yes or a no, and I'm not going to ask again, Lily, this is the last time."**

**My heart skipped a beat when he said my name. He never called me Lily. It was always Evans or a new nickname that he had made up for me. It was anything and everything, but never just Lily.**

"**Never going to ask again? Does that mean you are done asking me out? For good?"**

**His face began to fall a bit and he slowly nodded. "Unless you give me reason to ask you out, then yes."**

**"I'm not going to go out with you at the moment, Potter," I said. He looked upset and a bit hurt by my comment, but nodded.**

* * *

"What?" Eva and Rachel yelled in unison. 

"What just happened? Why on Earth did you say no? I thought you had finally come to your senses!" said Eva, exasperatedly.

"Merlin's beard," Rachel breathed.

"Guys!" Lily yelled, "Do you want to hear my story or not? Just shut up and let me finish!"

* * *

"**Alright," he said. "But can I ask one favour? I hate it when you call me Potter. Please just call me James like other people do."**

**He looked so sad sitting there, staring at the ground and, for the first time in my life, it pulled at my heart to see him like that. I shuffled over on the grass a bit so that I was sitting closer to him. I don't think he felt me move.**

"**Hey," I said nudging him in the ribs with my elbow, "just because I'm not going to go out with you now, doesn't mean I don't want to at all. I just need some time, all right? And besides, I don't trust all those other girls. I want to know that you are as good as you say before I sign up for anything."**

**When he looked up at me, he looked more contented than before, but still a bit confused.**

"**Merlin, you are such an idiot," I said and shook my head, a smile creeping to my lips, "That was just an invitation to kiss me, **_**James**_**." **

**After my words set in, the smile that appeared on his lips lit up his whole face and he looked happier than I'd ever seen him. It was actually a smile, too. Not just a smirk or a grin like it usually was; a genuine smile. **

**He wasted no time at all and the next thing I knew, I was lying on my back in the grass with his body pressed up against mine. My head started to spin a bit and I wasn't sure if it was due to his intoxicating cologne, or the fact that I had an extremely good looking and highly sought after guy lying on top of me. **

**But either way, it was a very exhilarating feeling.**

**"I told you I'd win you over sooner or later, Evans," he smirked and fervently pushed his lips against mine in a breathtakingly passionate kiss. **

* * *

"Oh my God!" Rachel screamed, jumping over onto Lily's bed. "Did you guys do it?" 

"No!" she objected. "I just kissed him! That's all." She looked away and started to blush a deep scarlet.

"I don't think that _is_ all," said Eva, raising an eyebrow at her friend.

"Ok, fine!" Lily yelled, giving in. "His hands went somewhere. But that _is _all. We didn't go further than that, I swear."

"North or south?" Rachel asked.

"What?" Lily asked in confusion.

"His hands, Lils. Did they go north or south?" Eva said, slowly and patiently as one might speak to a young child.

"Not down there!" She said looking shocked.

Both Eva and Rachel burst into simultaneous laughter, maybe at their friend's theatrics, maybe at her naivety. Or, quite possibly, at both.

**A/N: Ok, so this one was a bit different. But I really wanted to put som****e Lily/James into the story. I'm not really that good at writing in first person, but please tell me what you think. Be as harsh as you want. It's all helpful! Also, there were a few problems with this chapter. A couple of lines were cut out here and there (before the line things) but I'm pretty sure it's all sorted out now. **


	12. Chapter 12: Thinking Of Christmas

**Chapter 12: Thinking Of Christmas**

"Hey guys," James asked his fellow Marauders in the common room one drizzly November night, "Do you want to come to my place for Christmas? My parents said it's ok if I bring some friends home."

"Well I would have come anyway," said Sirius, pouring over a piece of old parchment otherwise know as the Marauders' Map.

"I'd have to ask my parents," Remus said, "But I'm sure it would be fine with them."

"I'll ask, too, but I'm not sure if I will. I think we might be going away," said Peter.

"Alright," James said, "I'm going to ask Lily, Eva and Rachel if they want to come too."

Sirius grunted.

"What are you doing, Padfoot?" Peter asked.

"Looking at the map."

"Yes we can see that," said Remus, "But why? What exactly are you looking at?"

"Eva. She's at the Owlery. If she wanted to send a letter, why didn't she just use one of our owls?" Sirius said, looking up at Remus, expecting him to have the answer.

"Well how should I know? Maybe she would have felt bad about sending your owl or James' owl out in the rain."

"I guess," Sirius said and tapped the map with his wand and muttered something, returning it to what appeared to be an ordinary piece of parchment.

* * *

"James asked if we wanted to go to his place for Christmas," Lily told Eva and Rachel later that night in their dormitory. "Do you want to go? Because I won't if you two don't." 

"Are all the Marauders going?" Eva asked.

"So far as I know. Except possibly Peter, he thinks he might be busy," Lily explained.

"Good," said Rachel, sticking her head up from her bed. "He's weird and creepy anyway. I don't like him much."

The other two girls chuckled. They could completely understand what she meant.

"Well I'm in," said Eva.

"Yeah, me too," said Rachel.

* * *

"Hey, Frank, what are your plans for Christmas?" James asked as he lay on his bed, waiting for Sirius to get out of the shower and planning on running in before Remus. Fights for the shower were daily occurrences in their dormitory. 

"Not much, I'm planning on staying here. How about you?"

"Well I'm going home and a few friends are staying over at my place. Do you want to come too? I mean, you share a dormitory with us, but none of us hardly know you."

"What do you mean?" asked Remus, "I know Frank well. We sit together in Herbology."

"Yeah, well you're not counted, Moony. Do you want to come with us, Frank?" James persisted.

"Oh, well I wouldn't want to intrude," he said a bit nervously.

"Nah, you wouldn't be. I'll see if Alice and Mary want to come, too. You're friends with them, aren't you?"

"Yeah I am. Well if you wouldn't mind me there, I'd love to come," said Frank, a smile spreading over his round face.

"Excellent!" said James, clapping his hands together. At that moment, the bathroom door opened and Sirius appeared in the doorway wearing only a pair of boxes. Before he was even out the door, James had sprung off his bed and bounded into the bathroom, almost knocking Sirius over.

"Someone's a bit eager, aren't they?" he said, staring after James in amusement.

* * *

"Hey! Alice, Mary!" called James, pushing Sirius aside as he ran down to the common room to catch the two girls before they headed to breakfast. 

"Oh, hi Potter," said Alice.

"James," Mary smiled. She had called him by his first name ever since he had drunkenly kissed her in fourth year, mistaking her for Lily; he had been _really _drunk. Sirius chuckled. Truth be told, he didn't really like Mary that much, James didn't either, but they both wanted Alice to join them at Christmas time for Frank's sake.

"A few people are coming to my place for the Christmas holidays for about a week or so, before coming back to school," James started, "And I was wondering if you two girls wanted to come as well."

"Thank you so much for the invitation, James, but my parents expect me home for Christmas. We are going to Rome to celebrate the holidays with my Italian cousins," Mary said, looking very disappointed. "I'm so sorry."

"No need to be sorry," said Sirius, joyfully clapping his hands together. Mary glared at him; she knew that he didn't think very highly of her.

"Is Frank going, too?" Alice asked.

"Yeah, definitely. He wants you to come, though," James said with a cheeky grin.

Alice blushed a bit, "Well I'd have to owl my parents. Mum wanted me to stay at Hogwarts for the holidays but I'm sure she wont mine me going to a friend's place instead."

"Great," James said. "Come on Padfoot. Race you to breakfast!"

Sirius laughed and jumped out of the portrait hole, running after his best friend.

* * *

Eva didn't bother asking her parents' permission to go to James' place for Christmas. They wouldn't reply to her owl anyway. She just sent them a short letter saying she was planning on staying at school for the holidays. 

Ever since they had found out that she had been sorted into Gryffindor, her parents had ignored her completely, only sending her an owl three months later to tell her that she had disgraced them.

She pulled a bottle of Firewhiskey out from under her bed and took a swig.

"Hey, easy on the alcohol, girl!" said Rachel with a chuckle from the door.

Both the girls headed down to breakfast together. Lily had gone early to leave time for some homework before classes started. When they reached the common room they found Alice sitting on a chair, writing a letter.

"Morning," Eva said.

"Oh, hey guys. Are you going to Potter's for the holidays, too?" she asked them; attaching the letter to her owls leg and watching it soar away through the open window.

"Yeah, we are," said Rachel. "Are you?"

"Just owled my parents to ask," Alice said, indicating the window.

"Come on, enough chat! It's breakfast time and Rach is hungry," Rachel said and ushered the other two girls towards the portrait hole.

* * *

The next day, both Frank and Alice got letters from their parents saying that they were allowed to go to James' house for the holidays. 

Remus got a letter from his mother saying that he was allowed to go, and that Rachel's mum said that she could too.

Lily's parents were a bit hesitant about letter her, but when she told them that there would be three other girls there, as well as Remus, they reluctantly agreed.

"Well I can't," said Peter to his friends. "My parents and I are supposed to be going to visit my aunt in Switzerland over Christmas."

"Ahh, Wormtail!" Sirius complained. "You always have to ruin the fun, don't you?"

"Sorry," Peter said, looking just as disappointed as Sirius.

* * *

The following few weeks passed very slowly through a mixture of classes, homework and assignments. All the students eagerly waited the day when their holidays were due to start and the group of sixth year Gryffindor boys and girls would board the Hogwarts Express, heading back to King's Cross and, from there, to James' house. 

Christmas promised to be an interesting event for all those involved.

**A/N: review! Oh and the title of this chapter was originally 'What Are You Doing For Christmas?' but it was apparently too long so I changed it to 'Thinking Of Christmas'.**


	13. Chapter 13: Tension

**Chapter 13: Tension**

Eva, Lily, Rachel and Alice sat in their dormitory packing the things that they would need for the next week at James' house. As soon as they each had a bag full of their clothing and whatever else they needed, they headed into the common room.

When they got there, they found Sirius, James, Remus and Frank already sitting around the fire with their bags.

As a group, they walked down to the Entrance Hall, got their names ticked off a list, and walked down to Hogsmeade Station. The scarlet steam engine was waiting for them when they arrived there and they all boarded it together, finding a roomy compartment towards the back of the train.

Sirius walked in first and, lying down on the cushioned bench, claimed a whole half of the compartment.

"Padfoot! Move your ass. We need to sit down too," said James, as he came in. He sat down opposite his best friend and pulled Lily down next to him. Putting his arm around her, he leaned in and kissed his girlfriend on the cheek.

"Get a room," Sirius said in mock disgust.

"Oh, don't worry. We will soon enough," James replied with a wink.

Frank and Alice entered and sat down next to Lily and James. Remus and Rachel, who grabbed Sirius by the legs and arms respectfully, and pulled him off the seat, followed them.

"Hey!" he protested.

Standing at the doorway, Eva tried to stifle a laugh, which ended up getting the better of her.

"What are _you_ laughing at, Miss Miller?" Sirius asked.

"You!" she said back to him, and playfully slapped him across the head and she moved to sit next to Remus.

"And if you sit up there," he asked from his cross-legged position on the ground, "Where does that leave me to sit?"

"The floor," said about four different voices in unison. Sirius pouted.

"In that case," he said with a mischievous grin, "You can join me."

Before she could protest, Eva was being pulled onto the ground by the legs.

"Sirius!" she screamed, but it was too late; he had already pulled her down from her seat, into his lap and had his arms firmly around her waist to stop her from moving.

After wrestling for a while in attempt to get loose, she finally gave up and accepted that he was just too strong for her. He grinned and loosened his grip around her waist, but she didn't try to get up again. Resting her head on his shoulder, she began to get drowsy and soon enough, fell asleep.

* * *

It took Sirius a while to realise that Eva was asleep. He chuckled to himself, making a mental note to later tell a joke about her 'sleeping' with him on the train.

He looked up at James who had Lily cradled in his arms, much like he did Eva, and winked. James returned the wink with a smirk and pulled Lily tighter into his body.

Since Eva had long since abandoned her seat, it left Rachel enough room to lie down. She did exactly that and used Remus' lap as a pillow. Both of them had novels out and seldom talked to anyone else in the compartment.

The segregation had left Frank and Alice together in one corner of the compartment and, Sirius noticed, they looked very cosy indeed.

Bored by the fact that everyone else seemed extremely worn out and not willing to engage in conversation, much less do something productive with their time, he decided to sleep. He rested his head on top of Eva's and, soon enough, the effect of a long school term filled with lots of homework and little sleep caught up to him and he fell dead to the world.

* * *

It was starting to get dark when Eva woke up and everyone else in the compartment was fast asleep. She smiled as she noticed that Alice's head was rested on Frank's shoulder. They looked very comfortably, which was exactly how she felt. Sirius' arms were still wrapped protectively around her body and his head rested atop her own. She needed to go to the bathroom, but wasn't sure how she would be able to without waking him.

She tried to gently pull her body away from his, but whenever she tried to drag his arms away from her, they would just wrap even tighter around her waist. She smiled to herself.

"Sirius," she said softly, and nudged him softly in the side.

"Hmm?" he muttered sleepily.

"I want to get up."

"Well maybe I don't want you to," he said with his eyes still closed, but a grin creeping across his face.

"I need to go to the toilet, so let me up," Eva demanded.

"Alright, fine. Let's go for a walk."

His arms dropped from around her waist and they both got up. They walked along the corridor until they got to the toilet. Eva walked in and Sirius waited for her outside.

When she came out, they walked slowly back up the train. They passed many empty compartments, seeing as some students chose to stay at school over the holidays.

"Come in here," Sirius said as they passed an unoccupied one on their right.

"Why?" Eva asked as she followed him in.

"Because people are asleep in our one and I want to talk to you," he said.

"About what?"

"About us."

A silence fell across the two of them as they sat in the formerly empty compartment while they both figured out what they were going to say.

"What about us?" Eva asked slowly.

"Well," said Sirius, sitting against the window and pulling his feet up onto the chair, "about our relationship. What's going on? I kiss you; you ignore me. I ask you out; you shag me. Then nothing at all, then you fall asleep in my arms, and here we are."

Eva felt her face grow red and she started to get angry. "Don't you dare blame anything on me, Sirius Black. First of all, I didn't ignore you after you kissed me; I still talked to you and hung out with you. What else did you want me to do? Then when you asked me out, we both got drunk and _you_ suggested we sleep together. Then nothing? What do you even mean by that?" she took a deep breath to calm herself down and continued in a softer, less aggressive tone. "And before, you pulled me down into your arms. I thought it was a joke, then I realised you weren't going to let me go, so I stayed there because I thought that was what you wanted. I don't understand where this came from. The way you have been acting lately, it doesn't seem that you care about what goes on between us… or what doesn't."

She looked at Sirius and waited for him to speak, but he didn't. He just sat there on the seat and crossed his arms, not looking at her.

"Well?" Eva demanded, "Are you going to say anything?"

He heaved a sigh. "I'm sorry. It's just… I really like you, ok? And I don't know what your feelings for me are. I've tried to start a relationship with you, but each time it didn't work. Look, just forget I said anything, ok?"

"You've already said it, I can't just forget it and act like nothing happened."

"Why not? You seem to be pretty good at doing just that," he said and before she knew it, he had stormed out of the compartment.

Eva was angry beyond measure. A few minutes passed before she decided to go back to the other compartment. She walked down the train and took a deep, calming breath before entering it. When she got inside, she noticed that everyone was exactly where they had been before she left, including Sirius. He didn't look at her as she walked in and sat down on the bench next to Remus' sleeping form.

Half an hour passed in silence while everyone but Eva and Sirius slept. Then James woke up.

"What time is it?" he mumbled.

"We'll be there in an hour," Sirius replied.

"Wow, time goes fast when you're sleeping, doesn't it?" he said with a grin.

Gradually, everyone else started to stir and by the time the train was slowing to a halt, none of them were asleep anymore.

They all grabbed their belongings from the luggage rack and made their way off the train and onto Platform 9¾. Mr. and Mrs. Potter were waiting for the group and after greeting them; each one introduced himself or herself in turn.

In pairs, the group of ten exited the platform by running through the wall and gathered at Kings Cross between platforms nine and ten. They headed out of the station and into a nearby lane that was dark and empty.

Mr. Potter pulled an old newspaper out of his coat pocket and held it out in front of him.

"Come on, quick now, it's about to go off," he said, and everyone grabbed the Portkey. A few moments of silence later, they were all spinning away to the Potters' house.

With a thump, Eva landed on the ground in a heap. She looked around to see Remus, Rachel, Alice and Frank all on the ground next to her while all three Potters and Sirius were standing on their feet.

"Practise," James said with a smirk and winked at Lily.

"Shut up," she said and got off the ground. Eva followed suit.

They were standing in the country outside a very large, white house. A gravel driveway swept before them, up to the front doors of the residence and a large fountain was situated in the middle of it.

They all walked up to the front doors, which magically opened for them, and into the entrance hall of the house. Two house elves stood in front of them, one wearing a shrunken pillowcase, the other a tea towel around its midriff.

"Master Potters," the first one said, bowing to Mr. and Mrs. Potter.

"Young master James and his guests are please leaving their bags down here so that Missy and Gilbert can take them upstairs for the sirs and madams," said the second.

"Thank you Gil. Please take those four to the North Wing; just leave them all in my room. And take these four to the East Wing. Put one in each of the guest rooms there. That should be fine," James said to the elves.

"Now," he said, turning back to his friends with a huge smile, "Anyone for the grand tour?"

Eva eagerly nodded her head along with everyone else, save Sirius who already knew the house well. But anyone looking closely would have noticed that the smile didn't quite reach her eyes. Somehow, she thought, if Sirius was standing next to her, joking around like his usual self, she might have been just that little bit happier making her smile accomplish that which it was meant to achieve.

**A/N: Well this is as far as I have written. So imput anyone? Leave a review telling me what you want to read about, or what you want to happen, and I'll see what I can do about making it work. If you want something but you keep your mouth shut and don't review about it, then I have no way of doing what you want! So remember that guys. Current lenght I'm thinking will be somewhere between 17-20 chappies. So I'm nearly done and I'm not thinking of writing a sequel. I'm going to get started on some other stuff. **

**So review guys!! xo**


	14. Chapter 14: Unexpected Gifts

**Chapter 14: Unexpected Gifts**

It was Christmas morning.

Eva woke up to the sound of birds outside her bedroom window. Coming from the city, birds were something she wasn't used to. Even after almost a week at the Potters' they still managed to rouse her earlier than she would have liked.

She pushed back her blankets and jumped out of bed. She walked out of the guest room and down the hallway to a grand bathroom. She slipped inside and locked the door behind her.

The Potters' guest bathroom reminded Eva slightly of the prefects' bathroom back at school that Lily had taken her too once. There was a large circular bath in the middle of the room, surrounded by many identical taps. There was one larger than the rest, which Eva turned on, spurting hot water into the tub.

She removed her pyjamas and slid cautiously into the bath. She turned on an assortment of other taps, producing a variety of bubbles and scents.

She submerged her head bellow the surface, enjoying the sensation of the hot water rushing over her head. It was almost a cleansing feeling.

After about ten minutes she reluctantly pulled herself out of the bath and dried herself off. As soon as her last toe had left the water, it disappeared.

She stood for a few minutes in front of the mirror and viewed her reflection as she dried her hair. For the umpteenth time, her mind drifted to thoughts of Sirius. The two hadn't had a proper conversation since that day on the train. Exchange was scarce and on the rare occasion that it did occur, it was strained and painfully polite.

She got dressed in a pair of light blue jeans and a t-shirt and, pulling a woollen jumper over her head, left the bathroom and walked downstairs to see if anyone else was awake.

Sirius woke on Christmas day to the sound of chatter coming from elsewhere in the house. He heaved a sigh and climbed slowly out of bed, stifling a yawn. He took a quick shower in his ensuite – he had his own bedroom in the Potters' house and wasn't staying in one of the guest rooms.

He pulled on a pair of his favourite black jeans and a plain grey t-shirt.

Exiting his room, he headed in the direction of the voices. They led him to the main living room where a large Christmas tree was standing next to the fireplace. Many colourful boxes of different shapes and sizes surrounded it.

A magnificent smell came from the kitchen; Mrs. Potter was cooking a feast of bacon and eggs, pancakes and porridge. The kitchen was next to the living room, a large wooden table separating the two rooms.

While Mrs. Potter was cooking the breakfast, the two house elves were ladling the table with the food.

Mr. Potter sat in a large armchair reading the daily prophet, and James, Eva and Lily sat on the ground chatting to each other.

"Morning, Padfoot!" James called, looking up to the doorway.

"Hey," Sirius muttered sleepily going and joining them.

He didn't look at Eva while the two girls and two boys talking amongst themselves.

"James," his mother called from the kitchen, "Do you want to go and wake up the others? Breakfast is almost ready."

"Sure mom," he called back and jumped to his feet. "Do you want to come, Lily? You can wake Rachel and Alice."

She took the hand that he offered and they both walked from the room together.

Sirius and Eva sat in an awkward silence for a moment before Mr. Potter engaged them in a conversation about Quiddich.

James and Lily returned shortly followed by Remus, Rachel, Frank and Alice. They all took their seats at the table while the house elves brought over the last of their breakfast.

Getting to the table last, Sirius and Eva found that the only places left were right next to each other. Begrudgingly, they both sat down, staring in the opposite direction.

"Tuck in!" Mrs. Potter called and ten pairs of cutlery simultaneously began piling food upon their plates.

As they ate, small talk was made and ideas about how to spend the rest of the day were tossed about. James wanted to stay home and open presents first, while his parents thought going into town to be part of the celebrations would be more appropriate.

In the end a compromise was made: Mr. and Mrs. Potter would go into the village to enjoy Christmas day with their friends, while James and his friends were free to stay at home and do whatever they liked with their time. Everyone would then meet together that evening to go to the Ministry of Magic's Christmas Banquet. It promised to be an absolutely wonderful day.

After Mr. and Mrs. Potter left the house, the eight children returned to the living room and to the mountain of presents.

Everyone greedily grabbed their own and began ripping the wrapping paper off. After about ten minutes, the floor was covered with an assortment of colourful paper and gifts.

Eva opened the lid of the velvet box. Inside was an expensive necklace and matching earrings. Even though the card said that it was from her whole family, she knew that it wasn't. Every birthday and Christmas, Kroy sent her a gift and put her parents' names on the tag. She was used to it.

Sitting beside Eva was the thick leather journal and box of Honeydukes chocolate that Lily had bought her. She had gotten a new set of bronze Gobstonesas a combined gift from Rachel and Remus. James had given her a substantial amount of Zonko's merchandise. Alice bought her a few new t-shirts, and Frank gave her a heap of chocolate and sweets.

There was one more gift for Eva that she hadn't opened yet. She had already gotten one from all her friends and her family, and she didn't expect to get one from Sirius after their fight.

But still there was another present for her.

She tore the brown paper and cast it aside. It was a woollen jumper, turquoise in colour, and had 'Eva' printed across the front in gold cursive.

She looked at the tag that accompanied the present: it was from Mr. and Mrs. Potter.

Eva looked over at James. He was holding a similar jumper that was scarlet. He looked up and saw her staring.

"Like the jumper?" he asked.

"They shouldn't have, James. They've barely met me."

"Don't worry. Mum made one for everyone. She enjoys knitting. Don't worry, seriously, she'd make them for the whole school if she could."

Eva nodded. She wondered what it would be like to have parents like James's. Parents that actually care, that knit jumpers for your friends; parents that you could actually be proud of.

Sirius looked at the gifts he'd received. As usual he had gotten the same presents as James from Mr. and Mrs. Potter. They always bought them the equal things. They treated him like their second son.

He looked down at the small box he held in his hand. It was a Christmas present, but not for him. It was for Eva.

Mr. and Mrs. Potter were due home soon and Sirius was in his room getting ready for the Ministry Ball.

He stood in front of his mirror, buttoning up his white shirt. He was wearing elegant black trousers and shiny black shoes. When the final button was done up, he reached for the black tie hanging off the mirror and tied it around his neck. Once he was happy with his appearance, he left the room with the little box in his hand.

Eva did up the zip on her beautiful red dress and went into the bathroom to apply her makeup. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and smiled: she looked wonderful.

She walked back down the hall to her bedroom to put her shoes on. Once she was ready, she walked over to the door and was about to open it when there came a knock. She pulled open the door expecting it to be Lily or Rachel and was surprised to see Sirius standing before her.

"Hey," he said, "Wow, you look great."

"What are you doing here? I thought you weren't talking to me," Eva replied, crossing her arms.

"Can I come in?"

She was going to tell him 'no' but he was already past her and walking over to her bed. He sat down and stared at her.

"Come to yell at me some more?" Eva asked.

"No, actually I came to give you your Christmas present."

He stood up and walked over to where she was still standing by the door.

"Look, I've been a complete bastard. I know that and I'm sorry," he handed the small box to Eva.

She unwrapped the purple paper and found another velvet box, like the one she had received from her family. She lifted the small clasp and opened it. Inside was a golden necklace. It had a little golden bow and the letter 'E' underneath.

"Thank you," she whispered, "It's beautiful."

"So, uhh, where's my present?" Sirius joked with a grin.

Eve hit his arm playfully. "I wasn't sure what to get you, so I went to Zonko's and they agreed to make up a gift voucher."

Sirius smiled. "That is just perfect, my dear."

She handed him a small piece of paper from Zonko's and he put it in his pocket.

"So," he said, holding out his arm for her, "Ready to go to a ball?"

**A/N: hey guys! Chapter 14 is finally written. Sorry it took a while I'd really like reviews and please tell me what you want for future chapters. Come on, please? Anyway, have a good weekend. **


	15. Chapter 15: A Charming Prince Indeed

**Chapter 15: A Charming Prince Indeed**

At a half past seven that evening Mr. and Mrs. Potter, along with eight young witches and wizards, got into the back of a magically enlarged car courtesy of the Ministry of Magic.

A large, bald black man that was sitting in front of the wheel, wearing many golden rings and chains, greeted them.

"Fine night for a ball, isn't it?" he said, turning to look at them as they all climbed into the car.

"Very fine, indeed," agreed Mr. Potter.

"I'm very sorry guys," the driver continued, "but the information I was given said that there would only be nine of you, not ten, so it might be a bit tight back there."

"Don't worry, we'll be fine I'm sure" Sirius said as he filed in after Eva. He sat down next to her and once everyone else had gotten in, found that he was actually quite close to her. His head rested just above hers and he could smell the enticing smell of her perfume.

"Stop sniffing me," she hissed at him.

"Sorry darling, I've just missed you," he chuckled as he whispered in her ear. His hot breath tickled her neck and goosebumps began to rise on her arms.

"Stop that," she hissed again.

"Stop what?" he murmured into her hair, "This?"

Eva squeaked as she realized that he had begun nibbling her ear. She pulled his collar roughly down so that his ear was next to her mouth.

"Sirius Black! We are in a car filled with a heap of our friends and your best friend's _parents_! If you don't stop that right now, you are going to be very sorry," she snapped.

He just laughed and pulled his head out of her grasp. "Don't _worry_, none of them are paying us any attention."

Eva looked around the car at the rest of her friends and realized, to her shock, that Sirius was right. Everyone else was immersed in their own private conversations and wasn't giving them the slightest bit of interest.

"I don't care," she replied, "Not now."

"Later then?" he asked with a smirk.

"Look, if you don't stop this then there won't_ be_ a later for you!"

Sirius knew it was an empty threat and ignored her. Instead of leaving her alone, he put his arm around her waist and pulled her body into his. As they had already been quite close together to begin with, it meant that she was almost sitting on his lap.

* * *

The traffic was bad and it took just over twenty minutes to get to the Ministry of Magic. Mrs. Potter had insisted they go by car seeing as the children were still too young to apparate by themselves; flooing would only dirty their robes, and the fact that she didn't like the feeling associated with portkeys.

Pulling up outside, they all filed out of the car and walked up the steps, melting into the crowd of other witches and wizards.

Sirius grabbed onto Eva's hand so that he wouldn't lose her amongst all the people and weaved her through everyone until they were inside the large, glass doors.

Eva had been to the ministry before. She has been forced to go with her mother when she was expelled from her old school to fill out some paperwork. That time, the massive atrium had housed a number of fireplaces, people and information desks.

Tonight there were still plenty of people, but everything else had been removed save the large golden fountain in the middle of the foyer. Towards the far end was a band that was playing an upbeat tune, in front of which some witches and wizards were already dancing. Lining the walls were dozens of large tables.

Eva turned to see that Mr. Potter was standing by her side.

"My wife and I have to sit over there," he pointed, "with some of the ministry officials. You children are," he pointed again, "over there. There is a sign, you wont miss it."

Sirius and Eva nodded and followed Lily and James how were already heading in the direction of Mr. Potter's outstretched arm.

The eight boys and girls sat down at the table that was marked with their names and introduced themselves to some of the other kids that were already seated there.

There were two little boys, one of about five and the other seven, both of whom had flaming red hair. They introduced themselves as Bill and Charlie and were extremely polite.

"Sirius? Oh how are you, darling?" said a pretty woman who couldn't be any older than twenty-five.

"Dromeda!" Sirius cried and flung his arms out for the woman to walk into. She was fairly short and he towered over her. He kissed the top of her head as he enveloped her in a tight hug.

As Eva stood discarded on the side, she felt jealousy burn inside her.

Sirius let go of the woman. "I'd like you to meet someone. This is my girl, Eva."

"Oh, it's lovely to meet you dear. I'm Andromeda, Sirius' cousin."

Eva almost laughed at how silly she'd been to think anything of Sirius showing affection to another female. "The pleasure is all mine."

"So how's little Dora going? I haven't seen her since she was this high," Sirius held his hand up to his knee.

"I'll just get her. She is sitting at this table with you. Please keep an eye on her, she can get herself into the worst trouble when no one's watching." She called out and a small girl with bright pink tussles of hair came running over.

"Sirius!" she yelled and jumped into his arms. He caught her and swung her around a few times before resting her on his hip.

"And how old are you now, little Dora? Four?"

"No!" she yelled, "I'm five and a quarter."

Sirius chuckled and put her down on the floor.

"You wait here and talk to Prongs. You remember Jamesie, don't you? Yeah? Because I'm going to go and dance with this pretty girl here."

He extended his arm and Eva took it, following him onto the dance floor. The upbeat tune had since turned into a slow waltz and he put her hand on his shoulder and his on her waist. He pulled her in very close to him and began to lead her.

"I didn't know you had such a way with children, Mr. Black," she said into his chest.

"Well now you do. It all just comes with the package that is Sirius Black," even though she couldn't see it, she knew that he was smirking.

"I guess being an exceptional dancer also comes with this package then?" she laughed.

About halfway through the song, Eva noticed that Lily and James had begun to dance as well. Soon after, she saw Remus offer his arm to Rachel, and Frank's to Alice.

Sirius pulled her with strength and confidence all over the dance floor and through numerous songs. They sidled over to where Remus and Rachel were dancing quite contently.

"You know, you guys really _would_ make a cute couple. Eva was right!" he said with a wink at Eva.

She gasped and hit him playfully on the arm, "I never said that!"

"You'd better not have," agreed Rachel, "You know that Remus and I are only friends. Right Remus?"

"Yeah, sure you are," Sirius said, obviously not believing a word she said.

* * *

The rest of the night went extremely well and before any of them knew it, the clock was about to strike midnight. The band had just started playing the last song – a very romantic ballad – and all the guests were enjoying their final dance for the evening.

The last chord was held long and tantalizing in the night, and magical fireworks were sent soaring into the air.

"I guess this is the part where I kiss you," Sirius said, looking down at Eva.

"Yeah and I guess this is the part where you turn from a toad into a charming prince."

"You're going to wish you hadn't said that," he replied before leaning in and capturing her lips with his. She hooked her arms around the back of his neck and felt his muscular arms on the small of her back. Her tongue explored his mouth, and his explored hers, until they broke apart.

Sirius tilted his head to the side, "Hey, look over there."

Eva turned just in time to see Remus put his hand on the back of Rachel's head and lean down to kiss her. Not to her surprise, she saw Rachel wrap her arms around him and kiss back.

When she turned back to face Sirius, he was smirking. All around them were couples expressing their love for one another. She looked up at the clock. It was still midnight and she still had another twenty seconds until the ball and Christmas officially ended.

She pushed back the black hair from Sirius' forehead and smiled as she pulled him back for round two.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry that it's taken so long to update! Writers block, you know? lol. This isn't my favourite chapter by far, and it wasn't in my original plans. Just kind of a spur of the moment thing, because I really don't want to end this story on 18 or 19 chapters. I want to get it to 20. So yeah. I'll try not to leave it so long in future. There should only be another 5 chappies, so keep checking! I'm keen to get this story finished so I can concentrate on a new one I'm writing. I know this wasn't my best, but please leave a review anyway! I've had over 1600 reads and only 7 reviews! It's a little annoying. So leave one. It would be much apprecaited. xx**


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